LC«fcM 3 





m 













?^§ot 



. . THE . . 



n 



isfropv of @CFes 



AND ITS NEAR VICINITY 



FROJVI ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT IN 1798 



TO THE PRESENT. 



TUB EAKLY PART WRITTEN BY 

M. W. MANN, OF COUDKRSrORT. 

AND THE LATTER PART BY 

MARIA KING, OF Ceres. 



OLEAN, N. Y. : 

G ILLETT & WESTON. 

189(3. 



r '■ 



Copyright 

1896 

By MARIA KING. 






' 




PREFACE. 

The first chapter of this history was written 
by Mrs. Mann on request of the Historical 
Society of Portville. They requested her to 
continue the work and she began on the second 
chapter, but could not go on with it, but re- 
quested me to do so. I finished up the chapter 
in the brief way I supposed was designed, and it 
remained so for several \ r ears, when the matter 
was again brought up and it seemed desirable 
to bring it down to the present, with a brief 
mention of the families who had lived here many 
years, or were in any way prominent in the 
community. I am well aware that my work is 
imperfectly done, but let him who criticises take 
the material and do better. Much has been 
hunted up with considerable labor, and of 
course much has been omitted through forget- 
fullness, and perhaps something put in that 
should not be. 

M. KING 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I.— The earliest settlement. The causes that led to 
it. The first exploration in 1797. The coming of the first family. 
The nearest neighbors. The first saw-mill and other improvements. 
The first death. Death of Mrs. King, 1801. Some account of her 
family. The coming of the Smiths and Bells. The great flood in 
1803. 

CHAPTER II.— The organization of the county and town, 1804. 
The first justice of the peace. The cemetery laid out in 1804. Set- 
tlement at Olean. The "house on the hill." New roads. Road laid 
out to Nile, N. Y., 1809. Missions among the Indians. Letter of 
F. King to his brother John giving his views of the country. Death 
of Francis King. Letter of John King. The Youngs. The Craw- 
fords. Mary Bell. Kittie Hanson. William Lister. Mary Bee. 
The sickness in 1820. John Bell, Senior. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
Smith. John C. Brevoost. Copy of an old letter from Robert and 
Elizabeth Clendeuon. Two remarkable snow storms. Thomas 
Smith's descendants. William Bell and family. John Bell, Jr., and 
family. Post offices. Franklin library. History of the church at 
Ceres. Schools. Physicians. Newspapers. The Civil War. 
Counterfeiting. The first general store. Emigration of settlers. 
Jacob Young. Fires. Annin Creek and Bells Run. Asahel Wright. 
The early Irish immigrants. Henry Chevalier. 

CHAPTER III.— Wild Animals. History of temperance work. 
The oldest house in the country. Under-ground railway. Daniel 
Carr. Edward Steinrod. Isaac Phelps. D. and J. Edwards. John 
C. Danforth. Cyrus, Rnssel and Ira Cooper. S. and J. Eastey 
and' the Peabodys. Joseph Morse, Sen., and sons. W. J, Horn- 
blower and family. Palermo Lackey. Walter Lackey. Main and 
Barber Settlements. James Ward. Some account of the Indians. 
Oil and Gas. Railroads. Some of those who have left Ceres and 
are honored citizens elsewhere. "Coon Hollow." Letter showing 
that Ceres was a part of Centre county, that the officers of McKean 
county had to report at Bellefonte. The 100th anniversary of the 
settlement of Ceres. 



CHAPTER I. 

|i)EOPLE who visit Rock City in Allegany 
^ county, New York, and look upon those 
singular water-worn rocks on a high hill sur- 
rounded and surmounted, too, in some cases 
by large trees, all repeat the question, ''How 
came they here?" 

The same query arises in one's mind in regard 
to those who form a new settlement in the heart 
of a wilderness, without roads, and without 
there being means of subsistence there. Why 
and how did they come here? 

To account for it in this case the following is 
copied from an old manuscript: 

In the year 1797 Francis King, of London, 
who came to the United States in the autumn of 
1795, was employed by John Keating, of Phila- 
delphia, and others associated with him, to come 
through the northern section of what was then 
known as Lycoming county, Pa., to explore the 
country and examine a large body of land then 
owned by William Bingham, Esq., with the view 
of making an extensive purchase, if he should 
find the land well situated and susceptible to 
cultivation. 

Francis King then lived at Asylum, or French- 
town, on the northeast branch of the Susque- 
hanna, about twenty miles below Tioga Point. 
From this place, accompanied only by a boy of 
fourteen, with a pack-horse to carry his provis- 
ions, he set off up the Chemung and Conewango 
rivers until they reached the extreme frontier set- 
tlement near the state line between Pennsylvania 
and New York, expecting to be able to reach the 
settlement on the West Branch of the Susque- 



b HISTORY OF CERES. 

hanna, at the mouth of the Sinnamahoning, in 
about two weeks. After this there was some 
detention from high water, and taking a wide 
range in the exploration, they were out six 
weeks. In these six weeks they did not meet a 
human being, though they frequently saw signs 
of Indians having recently been there before 
them. 

Their provisions were damaged by the wet 
weather and they did not succeed in killing any 
of the deer, or elk which they saw, until almost 
reduced to starvation. One evening however, 
Mr. King shot and killed an elk, but when they 
tried to eat of it, it proved more than their weak 
stomachs could retain at first. 

They were then on the head waters of the 
Sinnamahoning and with great labor and diffi- 
culty in their weak condition they managed to 
make a small raft of logs, and having put on 
some of their meat, Mr. King started with it 
down the stream, having directed the boy to 
ride the horse along the bank. He knew noth- 
ing of the distance to a settlement, nor of the na- 
ture of the stream. He soon found himself in a 
rough, rock\ r rapid, but he got safely through. 
The next day he entered the Susquehanna, and 
a mile below came to a house. The people were 
not able to take them in, so the boy rode on to 
a house a mile farther down the stream and 
there found they could be received. Mr. King 
was seriously sick. He allowed the boy and 
horse to rest two days, then sent the boy with 
the horse back to Asylum. The boy also carried 
a letter to Mr. King's wife, but on arriving he 
was so overcome by his feelings that he could 
not speak and did not deliver the letter for near- 
ly an hour, so that the family were in an agony 
of suspense until he partially recovered. Let me 



HISTORY OF CERES. / 

stop here to say that I have not found later 
mention of this poor child of fourteen years, who 
so bravely went through this terrible ordeal of 
going home alone, through that long wilderness, 
after all he had previously suffered. Not his 
name, even, have I found, though if the manu- 
script before me had been continued, no doubt 
we should have known more of him. I can only 
hope that he had a comfortable home and love 
and care, and all things to help him on to a 
good and happy life, and that wherever this 
story shall come, that this that he did shall be 
told as a memorial of him. 

During Mr. King's sojourn in the family that 
took him in, he suffered much for needful food 
and things that are necessary in sickness. The 
people were very poor and without provisions, 
except venison, which they obtained by having 
their dogs drive the deer into the water, where 
thev could shoot them. Thev rubbed out green 
rye, dried it and then pounded it, to get some 
thickening for their soup. 

While he was still suffering and helpless, his 
kind(?) host went down to Big Island, forty 
miles below, and gave information that a Yankee 
surveyor, who had been in the woods sometime, 
taking up land for the Yankee claim, was at his 
house. He wanted a reward for giving informa- 
tion, but he met with no encouragement, and 
returned home disappointed. 

It is to be remembered that at that time there 
were difficulties between the Pennsylvania claim- 
ants to lands in the northern part of Pennsylva- 
nia, Connecticut's charter having been pretty 
extensive westward. In about six weeks Mr. 
King recovered so as to be able to return to his 
family at Asylum. 

Finding that he could not get a good title to 



8 HISTORY OF CERES. 

the land which he had purchased at Asylum, 
owing to the failure of two large land owners — 
Robert Morris and John Nicholson — and being 
pleased with the country through which he had 
passed, and the persons who had employed him 
being satisfied with his report, so that they had 
made the contemplated purchase, and offered to 
employ him as their agent, he resolved to move 
his family into this part of the country. 

In the spring of 1797 he engaged a few men, 
hired a boat in which he took his provisions, 
tools, etc., and went down the North Branch of 
the Susquehanna to Northumberland, thence up 
the West Branch to the mouth of the Sinn am a- 
honing, at which place was the last settlement 
of white people on his route. 

They went up the Sinnamahoning as far as 
they could go, which was a place called Drift- 
wood, which was at the mouth of a branch of 
the Sinnamahoning, called after this Portage 
from these immigrants having carried their 
effects along it and across to the Allegany. At 
this time the State had engaged a man by the 
name of William O'Grady to open a road from 
that point to the Allegany river, a distance of 
twenty-three miles, so as to better enable immi- 
grants going to Presque Isle ( now Erie ), or other 
western places, to cross from one river to the 
other. Our immigrant party assisted in making 
this road, and passed over it with a wagon 
drawn by oxen, transporting their freight to the 
Allegany, where they made canoes, thus giving 
the name of Canoe Place (still to be found on old 
maps), and later Port Allegany. They descend- 
ed the river from this place about thirty-four 
miles, to the mouth of the Oswayo, a tributary 
of the Allegany, from the southeast, which was 
about one and a half miles north of the state 



HISTORY OF CERES. 9 

line ; thence up the Oswayo nearly six miles to a 
place previously selected, which they named 
Ceres. 

Here they put up a small camp in which to 
live until they could build. a log house. 

The distance they had come since leaving the 
last house was one hundred miles. 

Mr. King cleared a small piece of land, planted 
it, and then made some further explorations. 
He found a settlement of three families about 
thirty miles to the northeast, in New York, near 
where is now the village of Andover. This was 
twelve miles from any other settlement. These 
families had been there but a short time and 
consequent^ had raised but little, but they 
were generous and hospitable with that little. 
Their names were Dyke, and the place was long 
known as Dyke's settlement. Mr. Dyke, a mar- 
ried son and a married daughter with their 
families had made the settlement there. 

In another direction from Ceres, about fifty- 
six miles, he discovered two families at a place 
in Tioga count\- called Big Meadows. This 
place was at one of the forks of Pine Creek. 
There was no road in that direction until he cut 
a path. 

The little clearing at Ceres, I think, was sowed 
with wheat. Apple seeds and peach stones were 
planted as the first step towards the orchards 
that were to stock the country with fruit. 

In the fall the men who had been hired to 
accompany him returned to their homes, as he 
also did. 

In the spring of 1798, Mr. King, with his 
family and some workmen, started for the 
Oswayo by the same route followed the year 
before. A little above the mouth of Pine Creek, 
somewhere near where Lock Haven now stands, 



10 HISTORY OF CERES. 

the mother and four older children were left to 
wait while the father went back to Asylum for 
the three other children and their nurse. They 
were brought on in the canoe and sometime in 
Ma\- the whole family started again. By the 
payment of considerable sums in advance and 
the promise of good wages, two families were 
induced to go with them ; but they, like many 
others after them, chose to continue their jour- 
ney down the Allegany, without refunding the 
money paid them, thus leaving their employers 
alone. 

The voyage up the river w^as slow and labori- 
ous. The water was swift and often so shallow 
that they would be obliged to unload and carry 
their freight past the shallow rapids into deep 
water. Between Driftwood and Canoe Place 
they met the first Indians. Mr. King had gone 
on before the family and was out of sight. The 
children were frightened, but the mother had no 
fear of these wronged children of the forest, 
whose fate lay heavy on her heart. She quieted 
the alarm of her little children and then went 
forward to meet them, and was soon in friendly 
converse. The Indians knew them by their dress 
as the children of Penn, and probably had heard 
of their coming. Kind feeling, as this manu- 
script says, needs no interpreter, and this pilgrim 
mother had afforded her children better protec- 
tion than an armed force could have given. 

On arriving at Ceres, which was near the last 
of June, they set about clearing more land, so as 
to get in a patch of corn in addition to the 
wheat sown the fall before. It was a glad time 
of the year to begin life in the wilderness, for the 
whole air was sweet with the fragrance of trees 
and flowers. Birds were few, but what there 
were made music for them. Their cattle ranged 



HISTORY OF CERES. 11 

the hills and their bells re-echoed among the 

trees. They had no trouble from wild animals, 
personally, though for many years their flocks 
suffered. One of these early settlers used to sa\ r 
in his later days, "I never met any animals in the 
woods but that thought I was the uglier, and 
would run from me." There was no woman in 
the settlement but Mrs. King, when, in Septem- 
ber, a little girl was born to her. She lived onl\ r 
a few months, but already a burying ground 
had been laid out, for that is a human need that 
can not be set aside, and the Kings were devout 
members of the Society of Friends. 

The land company, called at that time "The 
Ceres Company," was composed of several per- 
sons in France, and I think of some in Holland, 
with an executive branch in Philadelphia, three 
members of which always signed deeds, con- 
tracts, etc. The chief person in the American 
branch was John Keating. He had been a 
Colonel in the French army, and I think was 
stationed in the West Indies at the time of the 
French Revolution, and on the death of Louis 
XVI came to the United States. He was of Irish 
birth and French education, and had the grace 
and polish befitting a courtly gentleman. He 
gave himself to business to retrieve his shattered 
fortunes, and spent the remainder of his long 
life in Philadelphia. He made many journeys to 
look after the Company's lands, and to confer 
with the agents; and he endured fatigue and pri- 
vations as became a soldier. But he was no 
longer a soldier, nor an officer, but a most benev- 
olent Christian gentleman, whom it was an 
honor and privilege to know, and whom it was 
impossible not to trust. 

The Company, with much wisdom and fore- 
sight, made many plans for improving the coun- 



12 HISTORY OF CERES. 

try, and had the means for carrying them out — 
and we can but wonder at their far-reaching 
policy. 

In this first summer, 1798, a sawmill was built 
set in a scallop made in the hillside, and fed with 
water brought three-quarters of a mile in a race 
which was cut through green tree roots, from a 
brook emptying into the Oswayo not far from 
where the first house stood. The next year a 
grist-mill was set up by its side, and these, with 
the clearing and cultivation of land, making of 
roads and constant surveying, gave employment 
to a great many people; while the ease with 
which they could leave by water made the popu- 
lation more than usually fleeting. 

Mr. King had hired a young man and his wife 
at Big Meadows, to come and live with them. 
Pack-horse paths were cut through to Big Mead- 
ows and to Dyke's settlement, Andover, during 
the summer. There was no riding in those days. 
People were fortunate if they could find a suffi- 
cient path to get a horse through to carry their 
baggage, and as all provisions for the way had 
to be carried with them, bread, etc., prepared 
and baked at Ceres, for all these excursions, that 
place was a busy hive. 

The wheat and corn raised that first summer 
had to be pounded in a mortar for meal, but 
much of it was cooked whole, being boiled a long 
time. The corn was hulled by being boiled in 
weak lie first. 

The winter evenings were employed in prepar- 
ing for the day's work. What could be raised 
was as yet in very insufficient quantities for 
their needs, and excursions had to be made to 
Pittsburgh, for the purchase of supplies. 

The pioneer first started with canoes to make 
the journey. It was easier than carrying bur- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 13 

dens on the land. The Indians who were around 
the settlement were very kind and often of 
much service in finding the best ground for 
paths and roads, also in the construction of ca- 
noes and rafts, and in the many other ways 
friendly people find of being of service. They 
called Mr. King, Shinna- wanna, 4 -The head man." 

Their reservations lay along the Allegany for 
a distance of forty miles. Here they made him 
welcome. At a plaee they called Jennessie — 
Guhta, Air. King met three young men sent 
thither by the Society of Friends as missionaries. 
These were Joel Swayne, Halliday Jackson and 
Henry Simmons. They had come there in 1798. 
As this was the Society to which Mr. King and 
his family belonged, it was pleasant to find them 
as neighbors — onlv sixty miles away. 

The first journey down to the Indian reserva- 
tion had been made to ascertain if there were 
obstructions in the Allegany that would prevent 
its navigation. There was nothing found more 
troublesome than sand and gravel beds and tops 
of trees, for the mills and clams that choked the 
stream in later years had not been built. Even 
those first mills at Ceres were run by water from 
a brook, and did not impede the public highway 
of the Allegany; nor even of the Oswayo. Find- 
ing the way open they continued on to Pitts- 
burgh, where they procured supplies, and load- 
ing two or more canoes hired help to push them 
up the river. It was a long route with all its 
bends, the largest of which took them some dis- 
tance into the State of New York. This journey 
was repeated more than once, for even when the 
grist-mill was completed, which was in the 
spring of 1801, it was long before enough grain 
was raised to supply the needs of the people, but 
it ground what grain was raised by the scattered 



14- HISTORY OF CERES. 

settlers that had come into the country at this 
time. 

Once when the head of the family was away 
on a surveying trip longer than he expected, the 
larder became so nearly empty that there was 
cause for alarm. Airs. King, who was a small, 
delicate woman, went herself to Pittsburgh, 
accompanied only by two Indians whom she 
hired, bought provisions and took them home 
by canoe. I cannot give the date of this journey, 
but it must have been in the earliest years, for in 
the eleventh month of 1801 she laid down her 
heroic life, leaving a little babe three hours old 
to the care of his brothers and sisters, the father 
having gone to Philadelphia to obtain supplies 
and to settle with the Land Company, where he 
was detained by high water and the difficulty of 
traveling in the winter, until March. There were 
then several families of work people in the neigh- 
borhood, so that there was a women who could 
care for the poor baby; but in return for nursing 
the baby, (as she also had one of her own to 
nurse,) she claimed that she must be abundantly 
supplied with food ; so the children gave of their 
supply until they would have starved themselves 
if it had not been for the meat brought them by 
the Indians. 

Of the King children, the oldest, John, was but 
a little over seventeen, and the oldest daughter, 
Ann, was fifteen. There were two other daugh- 
ters, Alary and Martha, younger than Ann; then 
a boy, James, and two girls, Jane and Annabella, 
and the baby brother. A helpless family in 
many ways to be left motherless in the wilder- 
ness, as they had never known anything about 
work before they came to America. 

The little burying ground had received another 
occupant — the third, I think — for a grave used to 



HISTORY OF CERES. 15 

be pointed out as that of Mrs. Smea. The death 
ol this beloved mother was so sad an event that 
it was never spoken of, even in their later years, 
by her children, without evident pain, and I 
never heard one allusion to the funeral nor their 
arrangements after, by any one of the family. 

At one time, while the King girls were still 
all at home, they were making up the clothing 
for the family for winter, when they decided to 
pack it in a barrel until the barrel was filled. 
They had nearly accomplished their task when 
it took fire and was all burned, and a new stock 
of winter clothing had to be made. 

Mr. King had to be gone for weeks at a time 
while surveying the distant portions of the 
Company's lands, and these children had to 
care for one another and themselves as best they 
could. 

In these years some families came that re- 
mained. In 1802, John Bell, his wife and his 
son William, and two sons and a daughter of 
his wife's by a former marriage, Thomas, John 
and Alary Bee, all came. They came from Halt- 
whistle, Xorthumberlandshire, England, a place 
mentioned in one of Sir Walter Scott's novels, 
"Heart of Mid Lothian." They had come to 
Philadelphia not many years before, and Mr. 
Bell, who was a superior mechanic, had "built 
a hospital" in that city, but the yellow fever, of 
which there was more or less for several years, 
frightened them, and hearing of this break into 
the wilderness, they followed, leaving one son, 
John, with a family near the city to whom he 
was apprenticed to learn the saddlers' trade. 
After he attained his majority he, too, came to 
Ceres where he spent his long and useful life, as 
did also his brother William and his step- 



16 HISTORY OF CERES. 

brothers and sister, and where many of their 
descendants still live. 

In 1802 also came Thomas Smith, his wife, 
Elizabeth, and four sons, Thomas, John, William 
and Henry. This was another family that came 
and remained. Mr. Smith was from Woolwich 
on the Thames, twenty miles then from London, 
and was a miller by trade. And after the first 
mill was past use, he built and run one but a 
few rods from the old saw-mill formerly owned 
by George N. Smith. This mill was on the 
Oswayo, a mile above Francis King's. This 
little hamlet was long known as Smith's Settle- 
ment. Here Thomas Smith, his wife and three 
sons lived to a good old age, excepting John 
who died in his prime, and passed away leav- 
ing many descendants, some of whom still re 
main. Thomas Jr. died in 1815, aged 21 years. 

The Smith family was an important factor in 
the earh r settlement, as well as in all the later 
history of the place. The letters of introduction 
brought by Thomas Smith and John Bell from 
a member of the Keating Land Co., have been 
found within a few years, and a copy of them 
is inserted to show the estimation in which they 
were held by the Company. 

Phila. 3 August, 1802. 
This will be handed you by our Friend John 
Bell who has at last determined to move with 
all his familly ( one boy excepted ) to Ceres Town. 
I am well convinced they will prove a very great 
acquisition to the settlement in every respect, 
for if this good man and his worthy and clever 
companion are pleased with their situation I 
conceive they will invite and encourage their 
friends and relations of England to come over 
and join them and as such people are of great 



HISTORY OF CERES. 17 

importance to a new country, I wish you to 
give them every assistance in your Power — to 
enable them to make their way. They are of a 
station in life not prepared to Endure hard-ships 
and I presume they will meet with some which 
are inseparable from the new country they are 
going to visit therefore endeavor as much as 
possible to alleviate them. I am extremely 
pleased with Mrs. Bell and have a very great 
opinion of her. Would lament very much her 
meeting with difficulty and hardships, from which 
I pray providence may guard her and hers. 

John Keating is not as yet arrived but I hope 
he will make his appearance in the course of the 
present month. I long much for his return. I 
have paid to John Bell 100 Dollars which sum I 
will charge the Company. Wishing him and his 
family safe to you, and that they may meet you 
and yours hearty and prosperous, I am sir 
sincerely, 

Your Affectionate Humble servant, 

Rich'd Gernon. 
Francis King, 
Ceres Town, 

Lycoming Co., 
Pennsvlvania. 



Mr. F'cis King, 

Ceres Town, Lycoming County, 
Pennsvlvania. 
Dear Sir: 
I wrote 3 r ou a few days ago by our friend 
Wm. Bell whose arrival with you I shall hear 
with particular pleasure and that his good Wyfe 
& familly have experienced no hardships on 
their journey. Offer them m}- best compliments 



18 HISTORY OF CERES. 

for the}' have my good wishes for their prosper- 
ity & happyness. 

This will I hope be delivered to you by Mr. 
Thomas Smith a Native of England & resident 
of Woolwich on Thames near London, who is 
very desirous of settling with his family (con- 
sisting of his Lady & 4 boys) on our Lands. 
Mr. Smith intends to take his Family up to 
Sunbury from whence he will ride up to see you 
& take a View of the Settlement, and make some 
arrangements respecting the land he wishes to 
take up. You will then please to assist Mr. 
Smith with your advice and aid, also afford this 
valuable settler all the advantages granted by 
the Company. Mr. Smith is lately come over 
from England, with several acquaintances Mar- 
ried & having famillys — who seem desirous of 
settling where he will, therefore I hope he will 
meet with ever}- incouragement possible. 

I had by the arrival of the British Packett 
a Letter from Mr. John Keating dated London 
31st of May he was about ingaging a Passage 
for this Port therefore I daily- look for his 
arrival. 

Mr. Smiths friends who mean to follow him 
are Mr. Simonds a Married Young man and a 
Mr. Thomas Willis a young man also having a 
Large familly of Six Children. 

Wishing this may meet you & familly I remain 
very Sincerely 

Your friend, 

Rich'd Gernox. 
Philad'a 11th Aug. 1802. 

William Avers, his wife Mary, and three child- 
ren were of the early comers, and were also 
English, and though some of their descendants 



HISTORY OF CERES. 19 

live at Ayer's Hill in Potter Co., I have been un- 
able so far to find any data concerning them. 

The colon}- throve; the land was productive 
and the climate much more favorable than in 
later years. The orchards grew rapidly, and in 
a few years there were an abundance of peaches. 
Melons flourished and the corn called "gourd 
seed," and later, "Ohio corn" reared its stately 
height and ripened its grain with ease. Apple 
orchards were longer in coming into bearing 
than the peach orchards. As they were all 
raised from the seeds they were not of any cele- 
brated kinds, but some of them proved to be so 
good that they were propagated by grafts, and 
very lately I heard a lady say that they had a 
Francis apple tree on their farm which was a 
graft from one this original stock. 

There was one severe winter. Early in October, 
1803, snow fell and lay on the ground for some- 
time. There had been no previous frost and the 
vines and low veget ables were protected by the 
snow until it was gone, after which there was 
no frost until December. There were fresh cu- 
cumbers and pumpkins at Christmas, a thing 
that has not occurred since. 

The manuscript before me says, "The next 
year," but it must have been the same winter 
for the "great flood" occurred in 1804. The 
snow fell to the depth of five feet, and supplies of 
food for the cattle failing, trees were cut down 
and paths dug or tramped to them, so that the 
cattle could browse from them. The snow grad- 
ually melted and warm, pleasant weather set in, 
which seemed to indicate that spring was near. 
There came a warm rain which melted the re- 
maining snow so rapidly that there was the 
highest flood ever known in the Oswayo valley. 

Thomas Smith and family were now living a 



20 HISTORY OF CERES. 

mile above the first settlement, and on lower 
ground, so that the Kings felt some anxiety 
about them, and taking an Indian canoe that 
had been left near went to look after them. 
Arriving at the door, still in the canoe, they 
found Mr. Smith busily engaged in bailing water 
from his cellar. He evidently thought, as Noah's 
neighbors did, that there was not going to be 
much of a flood. At the earnest representations 
of danger, Mrs. Smith and the \ r oungest child 
were induced to enter the canoe, leaving Air. 
Smith and his older sons to secure things as well 
as the}- could and then escape to land on horse- 
back. On returning over the swift waters the 
small, light canoe was overturned by being 
caught in a tree-top. It floated away leaving 
its passengers clinging to the tree. John King 
swam to where the canoe lodged and recovered 
it, and all finally got in and reached home safely 
after some hours delay. John King was nearly 
insensible with cold and exhaustion. They 
rolled him in blankets and were successful in 
arousing him, and towards evening he started 
again, this time on horse-back, for Air. Smith 
and his two boys. He found him still at his 
home, but he started back with him on horse- 
back, each with a bo\ T behind him. But a log 
bridge had broken up near where Mr. Leonard's 
house now stands, and the logs were floating, 
and John King's horse got a foot fast. He dis- 
mounted and tried to extricate the poor beast, 
but could not. It was night by this time, and 
he stood in the water holding up the horse's 
head to keep it from drowning, and they all 
shouted until help came from Mr. King's, more 
than half a mile away. There does not seem to 
have been any other family who was in danger. 
The water that spring was four feet higher than 



HISTORY OF CERES. 21 

it has ever been in the Oswavo since. Such a 
Hood now would be terribly disastrous. 

In all these years the postal privileges had 
been very limited, Williamsport, on the Susque- 
hanna, being the nearest and most convenient 
post office. Letters from England were sent to 
the care of some one in Philadelphia. Mr. King's 
were sent to "William Compton, Merchant, Phil- 
adelphia, for Francis King." They were forward- 
ed to Williamsport, directed to Cerestown, and 
were brought by any accredited person coming 
through. If no such person were found, and no 
opportunity of sending was expected, a messen- 
ger was sent on foot, or with a led horse, once a 
month, to bring the mail from the office, a dis- 
tance of one hundred and fifteen miles. In this 
way came the business letters of the Compam-. 

In the year 1801, I think, Ceres was laid out 
in village plats, as was also Smethport and 
Coudersport, with all the streets, public squares, 
&c. The plot of Ceres used to interest the chil- 
dren of the third and fourth generations, when 
that place had only developed a farm house, 
standing on the sight of the first log house, and 
the accompanying buildings, and the village had 
started at Smith's settlement, a mile away. 

With this slight record closes the history of the 
first five vears of Ceres. 



22 HISTORY OF CERES. 



CHAPTER II. 

JKHE former chapter brought the history of 
*■ Ceres down to 1803, and also gave an ac- 
count of the "great flood" in the spring of 1804-. 
There is not much to recount for several 3 T ears. 

Not being able to find all the documents as yet 
I can not tell quite the nature of the trusteeship 
in which the names of John Keating, of Philadel- 
phia, and Thomas Smith and John Bell, Sr., of 
Ceres, are signed to an instrument as "Trustees 
of McKean County." 

McKean count y was set off in 1804- as a sep- 
arate county. It had previously been a part of 
Lycoming county, and there are still old letters 
preserved that were addressed to Cerestown, 
Lycoming county. There were commissioners 
and a treasurer appointed soon after it was 
set off. 

The first Justice of the Peace was John C. 
Brevoost (Bravo), appointed in 1805. He had 
come to Ceres in the employ of the Land Com- 
pany, as a surveyor. The first marriage he per- 
formed was in 1807, between Nathan Horton 
and Sally Atherton. The witnesses were: Wil- 
liam Atherton, Rufus Atherton, Francis King, 
Betse} r Atherton, Ann King, Mary King, Ann 
Watson, John King, Absalom Townsend, William 
Lister, C. Holeman, and another name, evidently 
French, of which I am not sure, but think Du 
Jones. If any of the descendants are living and 
wish this certificate I will gladly give it to them. 

The Governor of the State of Pennsylvania 
appointed Thomas Smith, John Bell, Sr., Samsom 



HISTORY OF CERES. 23 

Crawford and John C. Brevoost, trustees in 
November, 1805. The first election held was in 
March, 1806, at which time Francis King and 
Samson Crawford were elected Supervisors of 
Ceres township. 

Mr. Keating showed much interest in the or- 
ganization of the counties in which his lands lay, 
looking carefully after the townships, that there 
should be elections duly held according to law, 
and was zealous to have roads opened and 
ready means of communication among the 
various settlements. 

In the fall of 1805 he was much engaged in 
superintending the making of the road down 
Pine Creek to Driftwood. A road had previous- 
ly been opened to Canoe Place. These roads, 
especiall\ r that to Driftwood, must have been 
great undertakings owing to the scarcity of men 
and teams, and the difficulty of obtaining pro- 
visions for both. 

In one of Mr. Keatings letters he writes that 
he is at a loss to know whether to send to Gene- 
seo or Pittsburgh for provisions. The former 
place was much nearer, but there was no water 
communication and the roads were bad at the 
best and often almost impassable. Thomas Bee 
of Ceres, who worked on the road to Driftwood, 
lived to be far along in the nineties, ninety-eight, 
I think, and died in 1882. In the delirium which 
attended his last sickness, he talked much about 
this road and the difficulties they encountered in 
building it, and of the scarcity of provisions for 
a time. 

The first road to Ceres, I think, was made from 
Port Allegany, then called Canoe Place and 
Kingsville. It was made directly north to Ceres 
and came down Mill Creek. I can remember see- 
ing the opening in the trees where the road 



24 HISTORY OF CERES. 

reached the clearing afterward made by James 
King, where he made his tanyard and sunk his 
vats for his tannery. 

Afterwards there was a road made through 
from Coudersport and came out on the Ceres 
road near where Mr. Leonard's house now 
stands, but which instead of being where the 
present road is, was carried up the hill nearly 
halfway, and came out on the King's Run road 
south of where the old mill stood. In 1842 a 
new road was made from King's Corners to 
Leonard's, the same one that is now used. 

There is a pleasant little episode connected 
with the situation of this old road from Shingle 
House to Mr. Leonard's, which convinces me 
that it had been opened previously to 1802, or 
to August, 1802. Thomas Smith, who came to 
Ceres in August, 1802, said that he had a dream 
while still in England that helped him much in 
deciding to emigrate to America. He dreamed 
of leaving his own country, of the long ocean 
voyage, and then of traveling a great distance 
into the wilderness, when one evening an angel 
came out of a most gorgeous opening in the sky 
and pointing downwards said, "This is the place, 
stop here." Coming to Ceres on the Coudersport 
road, it was towards sunset when he came 
along the foot of Mr. Leonard's hill. There was 
a most beautiful sunset; great golden clouds 
were piled up in the west over the two points of 
hills as seen from that place, and which much 
resembles the Saddleback mountains of Ver- 
mont. These hills were situated as he had 
dreamed of their being when the angel appeared, 
and it took no great stretch of the imagination 
to decide that he had come to the place to which 
he had been directed, and he bought land and 



HISTORY OF CERES. 25 

settled in view of the hills and abode there the 
remainder of his long life. 

In 1804- there was some settlement made at 
Olean and soon after Majors Adam and Robert 
Hoops began making improvements on a large 
tract of land afterwards known as the Martin 
farm. They were from Philadelphia and were 
men of means and liberal culture, and were 
enterprising and of great assistance in the earl\' 
settlement. In that day of magnificent dis- 
tances thev were considered near neighbors to 
the people of Ceres. Robert had been married 
to a beautiful woman but it was said that she 
had died of fright in seeing him strike down a 
man in altercation with him. Adam had been 
jilted in his more youthful days and was a 
decided woman hater. He carried this to such 
an extreme that he always carried a woollen 
blanket with him in which he wrapped himself 
at night, so that he should not touch a sheet 
that a woman had made or washed. The King 
girls did not like to have him take his soiled 
blanket into the clean bed they prepared for him 
when he visited their father. 

The History of Cattaraugus says that Major 
Robert Hoops died about 1816, and that he 
is buried in the old cemetery at Olean. Major 
Adam returned to Philadelphia and died there 
not long before 184-2. Annabella, the youngest 
of Francis King's daughters, was living in the 
city at the time and attended his funeral and 
was the only woman who accompanied the pro- 
cession to the cemeteiw. He had a genealogical 
record that went back to the 9th century. They 
were of English descent but had no relatives liv- 
ing even in those earlier days of their residence at 
Olean, except a niece in Virginia to whom this 
genealogical record was to descend. There is 



26 HISTORY OF CERES. 

mention made, in the Cattaraugus history, of a 
nephew, but as there was no account of him 
later than at the first survey, he must have died, 
I conclude. The\ T had a house-keeper whom I 
remember being- called a "yellow woman" or 
a mulatto woman. Her name was Nancy 
Furbelow. 

Angelica was settled by Philip Church in 1801. 
To this out-of-the-way place he brought his 
family, and other families of the better class 
came, and during the troubles in France, in 
1807-8, a number of French refugees found their 
way thither, among whom were the Du Ponts 
and Hyde de Neaville. The latter, after the 
restoration of the French monarchy, was min- 
ister to the United States from France from 
1816 to 1817. The Du Ponts moved to Wil- 
mington, Deleware, where they established large 
powder mills. Commodore Du Pont, of our 
navy during the Rebellion, was one of their 
descendants. 

As earl\- as 1798 the Society of Friends of 
Philadelphia, had appointed three young men as 
missionaries to the Indians on the Allegany Res- 
ervation. On their first journey, which was 
made the same 3 r ear as their appointment, they 
went to Pittsburg and from thence up to their 
first place of settlement, which the Indians called 
Genesinguhta. After some time they removed 
for a permanent settlement to Tuncsassa. As 
they learned of the road to Ceres from Phila- 
delphia, by way of Williamsport and Couders- 
port, and of the settlement there, they took that 
route in their future journeys to and from the 
eastern part of the state. Their visits were 
pleasant to the King family, especially so as 
they belonged to the same Society, and as they 



HISTORY OF CERES. 27 

had been used to city life keenly felt their isola- 
tion in this, then great wilderness. 

Joel Swayne, one of the first three missionaries, 
married Mary, Francis King's second daughter, 
in 1S14-, and giving up his misssionary work 
they removed to the state of Delaware, where 
they died at an advanced age and left two child- 
ren, the older of whom has recently passed 
away, himself well advanced in years, the other 
is the wife of Wm. Cook of Marion, Iowa. 

John King married Hannah Clendenon in 
1817. She with her father and mother and her 
sister Lydia, had been sent to Tunesassa as 
teachers by the Society of Friends in 1812. 

As petroleum or mineral oil has played an im- 
portant part in the history of this section of 
country of late 3'ears, it may be well to state 
that Joel Swayne wrote in his diar\- of May 12, 
1798, that incoming up the Allegany from Pitts- 
burg that they spent a night with James Titus 
on Oil Creek, and that Mr. Titus told them that 
he had gathered as much as three barrels of oil 
in one season, and that he had sold it as high as 
$1 per gallon. He gathered it by spreading 
blankets on the eddies and then taking them up 
and wringing out the oil. This was the Indian 
method of gathering it. The oil was highh- 
prized for its medicinal qualities. 

From a letter of Francis King to his brother 
John King of England written in 1806, we gath- 
er some information in regard to the country 
and his views of its possibilities. 

He claims that the climate is much more 
healthful than in the neighborhood of Philadel- 
phia. He is confident that the great thorough- 
fare from the East to the rapidly growing West 
will be to the Allegany river and down its 
waters to the Ohio. He thinks, too, that there 



28 HISTORY OF CERES. 

will be much travel from the States to Canada, 
and that much of it will come through this part 
of the country. And again there were the great 
lakes and the route west by way of Presejue Isle, 
now Erie, and Lake Erie. The growing West 
would need the pine that thickly covered the 
hills and valleys of the Allegany and its tribu- 
taries, and in later years none was more highly 
prized than that which came from the valley of 
the Oswa}'o. His far reaching views were slow 
of fulfillment, and some of them are still in 
embryo, especially his belief that Ceres would 
yet be a city. 

Ceres will be on the great thoroughfare from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific when the second 
track of the New York and Erie railroad is 
opened down the Honeoye, as is now being 
talked of, and which would have been the route 
of the Erie from the first, but for the narrow 
policy of the state of Pennsylvania which forced 
the projectors of the road to keep out of that 
state and far up into New York before they 
could find another practicable route. John King 
accompanied the surveyors, at their request, up 
the Honeo\ r e, when they came through the first 
time, which was in 1844, looking for a desirable 
route for the Erie, as he was known to have a 
thorough knowledge of the country. He was 
able to show them the advantages of this route 
over any other. 

Ceres has had much to retard her progress 
and has not fulfilled Francis King's sanguine 
anticipations for her. As long as pine timber 
was abundant little attention was given to 
farming, which was a serious drawback to the 
prosperity of the country and left it with a 
newly settled look when it was much older than 
many other more flourishiiiLr localities. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 29 

Olean grew apace, as that was the great ren- 
dezvous for the travel going to the West from 
the New England states. As many as two hun- 
dred families had come some winters to wait for 
the spring floods so that they could go down 
the Allegany river on rafts of lumber in the 
spring. Olean lost in a great measure this 
source of her prosperity when the New York and 
Erie canal was opened, and for many years after 
was a dull place. It had a boom in 1837, like 
main- another place, only to sink into greater 
apathy after the fever of speculation had passed. 
It continued this way until the building of the 
Erie railroad brought a growth, which though 
slow, was continued until the oil business 
greatly increased its active operations. 

There is little to record in many of the years. 
Mr. Keating was diligently looking after the 
sale of his lands, and there was much surveying 
done, which must have been particularly labor- 
ious, through the unbroken forests where the 
men must, after the first few da\'S, do their own 
cooking, and sleep in hastily improvised camps, 
which left them much exposed to the weather, 
whether favorable or not. To Mr. King these 
trips must have been very trying, as it left his 
motherless children so much by themselves, with 
no one to advise them, nor to console them in 
the anxiety which they must often have suffered 
for him. His health had been poor for many 
years, but he lived on until the night of the 9th 
of October, 1814, when he retired to his bed late 
in the evening, apparently as well as usual, but 
was found dead in his bed in the morning. The 
letter of John King to his brother James, who 
had gone to the state of Delaware to learn the 
trade of tanning and currying, is so full of inter- 
est, and does so much credit to both his head 



30 HISTORY OF CERES. 

and heart, that I take the liberty of inserting it 
here. 

[Copy of a letter from John King to his brother 
James King, then at Marcus Hook, Delaware 
count}', Pa.] 

"Ceres Town, 9th mo. 16th, 1814-. 
My Dear Brother — 

It is with unspeakable sorrow I have to 
acquaint thee of the decease of our dear father, 
who departed this life on the morning of the 
10th inst. I was not at home myself, having 
gone to Tunesassa for seed wheat. Haliday 
Jackson, Benjamin Cope, and Joseph Harlan, 
arrived here on the evening of the 9th, on then- 
way to the Indian settlements. They brought 
several letters with them for our family; among 
others one from sister Ann, and one from sister 
Mary, for father. His health was much as usual 
or rather improving. About 10 o'clock the 
friends retired to rest; father continued up about 
half an hour longer. He then went to bed, but 
appeared in no ways indisposed. Jane remained 
up about the business of the house until near 
2 o'clock. She heard father cough and spit sev- 
eral times, as was usual with him. She then 
went to bed and slept very sound until she 
heard the friends stirring about. She then got 
up, and, on going into the little room, she found 
father lying on his face, but instead of calling 
him, she found herself unable to speak. She then 
went out and informed the friends that she was 
afraid her father was dead. They immediately 
examined him and, sorrowful to relate, found 
him a corpse. He had expired without a single 
struggle, as the bed clothes were smooth, and 
himself lying quite straight. We have no doubt 
but that he was taken in one of those fits to 



HISTORY OF CERES. 31 

which he was subject for so many years. H. 
Jackson told me his opinion was that if any per- 
son had been in bed with him they would have 
known nothing ol his decease at the time. Mr. 
Jackson immediately despatched old Joisa, who 
was here at the time, to inform me of the sor- 
rowful event, while Benjamin Cope went in 
search of Smith's Mills, to inform the neighbors 
there; and Joseph Harlan went to John Bell's, 
Sr. Robert also went to Samson Crawford's, 
but, as it happened, neither John Bell, Thomas 
Smith, nor S. Crawford, were at home, being 
gone to the west branch of the Susquehanna on 
business. William Bell and Martha had moved 
up to the Matilda farm about two weeks before 
the melancholy event occurred. John Bee went 
immediately up there and informed them. The}- 
hurried down. Most of the neighbors soon col- 
lected, but, strange to relate, the Friends could 
not be prevailed on to stay to the funeral (which 
was first-day afternoon, the 10th), but proceeded 
immediately to R. Hoops that evening, leaving 
the poor orphans in the most distressing situa- 
tion, having no man about the house, with the 
exception of William Bell. Cotild they have 
given up to stay it would certainly have been a 
very great satisfaction. 

The messenger who went for me did not arrive 
at Tunesassa until first-day afternoon, about 
five o'clock, he being very unwell. H. Jackson 
and company arrived there also about dark in 
the same evening. I set off the next noon in my 
canoe, but working too hard, I found myself 
unable to proceed farther than Killbuck's with 
the canoe. I therefore left it, but was so much 
indisposed with a cold I had taken there that I 
was unable to reach home that day on foot. I 
arrived the next morning and found them all 



32 HISTORY OF CERES. 

well and as much resigned as could be expected. 
I know not in what manner to proceed. There 
are mam- things to take care of here, and also 
at the Matilda farm. I can not bear the idea of 
Martha and Jane parting, neither will it do to 
leave this place at present, and they cannot bear 
the thought of being left here alone while Wil- 
liam is at work at the other place, as I expect to 
set off the 18th for Muncy to inform sister Mary 
of the change and to meet John Keating at 
Williamsport the 24th. Their situation will 
certainly be very lonesome, but I hope that they 
will be enabled to bear it with due resignation 
to Him from whom all blessings flow, and who 
in His unerring wisdom has a right to take 
them away m His own time. I expect thee has 
an idea that the circumstance as it happened 
had been anticipated by father and us. He men- 
tioned several times to me the idea that he 
should be taken off suddenly in one of those fits 
and thought it would likely happen in sleep, as 
he had been several times attacked when asleep 
and awoke in great misery. He also expressed 
his entire resignation to the Great Disposer of 
events, and said whether he went off suddenly 
or by a lingering illness he believed it would be 
well with him hereafter. What a blessed consol- 
ation for us his children when we consider that 
although it is a great loss to us, it is his unspeak- 
able gain, and that the transition from a world 
of pain and trouble, ( of which he had so great a 
share,) to the heaven of rest and glory made so 
short and easy. May we all be enabled to fol- 
low the good example he has left us, as also to 
become partakers of the heavenly kingdom. lie 
had lived to raise a large family, and when we 
began to scatter about on the face of the earth 
he has gone before and calls on us to follow his 



HISTORY OF CERES. 33 

footsteps, that we may be again collected in joy 
inexpressible in the mansions of the blessed. 

Jacob Young rendered every assistance in his 
power, and certainly deserves the warmest 
thanks of every branch of the family, and will, I 
have no doubt, be always remembered with 
gratitude. He appears to take the loss with as 
much feeling as if it had been his own father. I 
have not yet had time to examine, but expect, as 
father was taken oft" so suddenly, that he has 
left no will, but as his accounts generally stand 
regular, I hope that it will not occasion much 
difficulty. 

I expect to see Joel and Mary at Muncy, and 
shall consult with them about what is to be 
done. I am sorry that we are so much scattered 
about. It would certainly be more agreeable to 
be near together, so that we could see each other 
oftener. I am concerned for Robert. He con- 
tinues very small and weak for one of his age, 
and is likewise so backward and dull in his learn- 
ing that I know not what we shall make of him. 
I know not what kind of situation we may find 
for him, or where. I expect to write to sisters 
Ann and Annabella, and acquaint them with the 
sorrowful news ; also to Charles Stow, of Phila- 
delphia. I heard by B. Cope, of the death of 
S. Button. Thomas' situation must be very try- 
ing, as also that of Susan. I sincerely sympathize 
with them in their loss. Please to give my love 
to them, and inform them of our great loss. 
Please remember me affectionately to John 
Hughes and wife, and all inquiring friends. Do 
not fail to write as soon as possible, and let us 
know how thee has thy health, and what pro- 
gress thee makes in the knowledge of thy busi- 
ness, as also in literature. With best wishes for 



34 HISTORY OF CERES. 

thy welfare and preservation every way, in 
which brothers and sisters unite, I remain, 
Thy affectionate brother, 

John King. 
P. S. 

Muncy, 9th mo. 22, 1814. 

I came to this place this morning, in hopes of 
seeing Joel and Mary, but am much disappointed 
by their being at Fishing Creek, at the monthly 
meeting. I shall go there to-day, but I know not 
how I shall disclose the sorrowful news. I re- 
ceived a letter from Ann at Jersey Shore. She is 
just recovering from an intermittent fever. It 
was written the 20th of last month. Are you 
not in great fear of the enemy in those parts ? I 
hear that they have taken Washington, and 
think it likely the}- will get to Philadelphia also. 
Thy situation is far from enviable in the present 
state of affairs. Do Friends suffer much on ac- 
count of military requisition ? How is it with 
thee? Farewell. J. K. 

The oldest daughter, Ann, had gone to near 
New York in 1808, and was engaged in teaching 
and had her youngest sister with her. 

Among those who had come into the place 
were the Youngs, Jacob and Jonathan. The 
latter left after several years; Jacob remained. 
In the winter of 1816 Jacob went back to his 
native state, New Hampshire, and married Bet- 
sey George and brought her to Ceres. She proved 
one of the most useful women that any new- 
place could have. She was strong and well, and 
ready for any and every emergency, and was 
often physician, as well as nurse, to the people 
for miles around her home. Her cheerfulness 
and assistance would comfort the most sorrow- 
ful, and the place would have been poor without 



HISTORY OF CERES. 35 

her. Seven out of her nine children lived to have 
families of their own, but not one of them have 
been living for many years now. Several of 
them left children who are still living. 

Jacob Young built a saw mill and a grist mill, 
soon after his marriage, both of which have 
long been gone to decay. The second dwelling 
house which he built is still standing and is now 
owned and occupied by L.J.Austin. His saw 
mill was on the site of the present old mill 
known as the George Smith mill. 

Jacob Young came to Ceres in 1808. The last 
twenty years of his life he was feeble, but still 
he lived to be over eighty and died of consump- 
tion, as did his wife and most of his children. 

Mrs. Young had been a teacher before she was 
married and was eager to have schools and 
religious meetings here from the first, and her 
house, -with that of William Smith's, was the 
preacher's home so long as she lived at her old 
home. For a number of years they lived on 
their farm on the Genesee road, about a mile 
above town. Airs. Young, in addition to all her 
care for the suffering and sorrowing, did a vast 
amount of spinning and weaving, and was 
tailoress and dressmaker. Indeed there was but 
little that this noble Christian woman did not 
do that was useful. She shrank from coming to 
this distant wilderness when Jacob went for her, 
and tried to persuade him to take some one else, 
but he would not give up his Rachel for any 
Leah, no more than the patriarch would, so she 
was constrained to go with him. He was older 
than she, and when a boy used to go to her 
father's (a near neighbor), to hold the pretty lit- 
tle baby, and never ceased to admire her as she 
developed into girlhood, and it was the supreme 



36 HISTORY OF CERES. 

object of his life, after coming to this wilderness, 
to win her for his wife. 

The Crawforcls lived at Ceres many years. I 
can not ascertain in what year they came, but 
they went down the river to Cincinnati in 1816, 
where they purchased land and made themselves 
a home, which was standing, in its original sim- 
plicity, as late as 1856, and I think until Airs. 
Johnston's death, in 1875. She had not cared 
to have it changed. 

There were three sons, Robert, John and 
George. They were commission merchants, and 
becoming wealthy, bought them country seats 
at Glendale, sixteen miles from the city, where 
they lived until they passed away. Both Robert 
and George visited Ceres, and cherished many 
pleasant memories of their early days spent here. 
George lived on until the summer of 1887. He 
was a man beloved and respected and held many 
places of trust in the city, and also in the church 
of which he was a member. 

The older daughter, Matilda, was about sev- 
enteen when they left Ceres. She was a bright, 
pretty girl. She married one of the Johnston's 
of Kentucky, a family of much note in that state. 
She died about 1875, leaving three sons who 
were all men of good position and honored citi- 
zens. She, like her brothers, cherished a warm 
affection for her old friends at Ceres. 

Mary Bell, wife of John Bell, Senior, was one of 
the notable characters in the early history, and 
most of the elderly people about the country still 
remember her, as she lived until 1850. She was 
a strong, resolute woman and frequently used 
to take a pail of butter and go to Olean and 
exchange it for its value in sugar and tea and 
return the same day, walking both ways. She 
did this the latter part of the thirties, but 



HISTORY OF CERES. 37 

became nearly blind and had to stay pretty 
closely at home for a number of years before her 
death. She was noted for her cordial hospital- 
ity. She was from Northumberlandshire, and 
used its peculiar dialect, and was always ready 
with a "glide coop of tay" for all who came. 
She was a model of neatness, and her house, 
though not large, was nicer than any one's else 
in the early days. It was nicely furnished, be- 
cause her husband made the furniture, and he 
was a good workman. This furniture is now 
highly prized by those who have come into its 
possession. The house was built of hewed logs 
and had a framed addition. 

With Mary Bell is associated the name of 
Kitty Hanson, a child whom she had taken from 
an asylum in Philadelphia. The child had been 
taken by the city authorities from an old woman 
who was begging with her, but to whom it was 
evident she did not belong. She could tell some- 
thing about her home, and it was believed that 
both her parents had died of yellow fever, and 
that she had been stolen by this vagrant woman 
so that she could the better appeal to the sym- 
pathies of people while begging. This girl, after 
many years, became the wife of William Smith. 
Through her long life there was always an in- 
tense desire to know her own early history-, and 
if she had any relatives. After her death, Mrs. 
Mann, of Coudersport, wrote a little history of 
her, which was highly prized by her children, and 
which I would like to include in this volume, but 
Mrs. Mann thinks it hardly best. Mrs. Smith 
was a faithful wife and mother and a true 
woman. — m. k. 

William Lister was another of those who came 
in 1802. He settled near what is now known 
as Myrtle, and not far from John Bell, Sr. He, 



38 HISTORY OF CERES. 

too, was from England, and had more means to 
do with than many others. He bought consid- 
erable land and it became valuable before his 
death. He built a small, framed house, where 
he lived his long life, being much of a recluse, 
almost a hermit. He never married, though 
much given to proposing it. It used to be laugh- 
ingly said that he had proposed to the grand- 
mothers, mothers and daughters, but he had 
enough good sense not to propose to any one 
that he would have been ashamed to have taken 
to England and introduced to his friends there. 
He had a fine gold watch, an unusual thing in 
those days, and it is said that he would show it 
and then say to the lady, tk Say yes, and take it." 
He made a visit to England sometime in the 
forties, and lost his watch through some sharper 
in New York, but he found some other way of 
popping the question, for he kept it up even in 
the early part of his last sickness. Sometimes it 
would be, "Shall I send for the Squire, or will 
you go with me to him?" He had a nephew 
come to him early in the twenties. This nephew 
married and bought a farm about a mile above 
him on the road to Shingle House. Here he at 
first built a log house, but about 1850 put up a 
goodly sized frame building, and had a nice 
home. This nephew, Lister Hargraves, from be- 
ing a wild, reckless man, was converted as early 
as 1837, but I think before, and was thereafter 
an exemplary Christian. His wife was also a 
Christian women. He had a large family of chil- 
dren, but they are scattered far and wide, only 
three remaining in this section at present. Re- 
cently the second house he built was burned, but 
there is a good farm and orchard left to show 
his industry and hard work. There is scarcely a 
trace left of William Lister's home, nor of John 



HISTORY OF CERES. 39 

Bell's, Sr., and there will not long be of any of 
the early homes. 

In those early days there was neither doctor 
nor minister. A medicine chest furnished with 
some medicines, scales and directions, with some 
surgical instruments formed a part of the pion- 
eers' outfit, and practice, good sense and obser- 
vation did in this case as it did in most others. 
Francis King while he lived, and after he passed 
away his oldest son, came to be relied on for 
help in sickness and the kindred needs, the minis- 
tering to the dying, writing wills, making 
arrangements for the stricken families, etc., as 
well as the funeral, and reverently laying the 
dead in their last resting place, and thanking 
the assembled neighbors, in behalf of the mourn- 
ers, for their S3 T mpathy and assistance. 

After some years there would come an occa- 
sional missionary or itinerant preacher of the 
Gospel, who would preach in the little school- 
house or in some private house. One of these 
Mrs. Young used to tell about. Early in her 
housekeeping in her new house, she was going 
out with a pail of swill for the pig; when she 
opened the door she was accosted with, "I'm 
Air. Stun, the missionary, and I'm come to 
preach to you, and the finish of the business is, 
I want ni}' horse shod." He evidently had 
learned to be direct in his address. He was 
kindly welcomed, found old Jeremiah Gray, who 
had found his way here from the far northeast, 
Maine I think, and who dealt in iron and forged 
horse-shoes, etc. He was one of the oddest and 
most intense Yankees, with a fund of queer 
expressions which were often laughingly repeated 
many years afterward. 

Captain Slick was perhaps the first cabinet 
maker, though John Bell, Sr., made some furni- 



40 HISTORY OF CERES. 

ture and did it well. A curtained bedstead 
of his make was one of this writer's heir- 
looms. — m.w.m. Some of Captain Slick's work 
is still preserved. 

Marriages were sometimes a matter of diffi- 
culty. John C. Brevost performed some as the 
first Justice of the Peace. 

Mar} r Bee, who married Robert Gilbert in 
1804 or 1805, went with her mother, Mary 
Bell, to Philadelphia, where Gilbert's family 
resided, and was married in Friends' meeting. 
They lived for awhile in the city but returned to 
Ceres in 1806. 

Mar\ r , Francis King's second daughter, mar- 
ried Joel Swayne, one of the first three employed 
by the Friends of Philadelphia to teach civiliz- 
ation and Christianity to the Indians on the 
reservations in the western part of New York. 
There being no Friends' meeting nearer than 
Muncy, then in Lycoming, now in Columbia 
county, the couple, accompanied by others of 
the family, made the long journey on horse- 
back, by Williamsport, to that place, where 
they were hospitably received and enterained at 
the house of Mercy Ellis, mother of William 
Cox Ellis, during the time for the announcement 
and the accomplishment of the ceremony, a 
period of over two weeks. Their home was 
thereafter in southern Pennsylvania and in the 
state of Delaware. 

Martha King had been married in the same 
way and place, to William Bell, a year before. 
Several years later, two more of these earliest 
settlers, John Bell and Jane King, were married, 
but had the ceremony performed by a Justice of 
the Peace. These two last couples lived and died 
at Ceres. Both raised large families, the former 
being chiefiV home-keepers, while the descendants 



HISTORY OF CERES. 41 

of the latter have almost like Wickliffe's dust, 
"Spread abroad wide as the waters be." 

Alary Bee, who married Robert Gilbert, was 
early left alone with her four children, Mr. Gil- 
bert having left home for a long journey and it 
was supposed died without any way of com- 
municating the circumstances of his death to 
his family. Mrs. Gilbert managed judiciously, 
bought land near her mother's and was as suc- 
cessful in making a home and living comfortably 
as were her brothers. She had one son and 
three daughters. The son lived until 1888, and 
the youngest daughter, now Mrs. Henrietta 
Benson, is still living. In the late autumn of 
1826, a little girl who lived with a neighboring 
family came in one morning on an errand. It 
was cold and she was given a seat near the fire. 
When it was time for her to go Mrs. Gilbert 
found her to be in a severe chill, and as she 
thought unable to go out again in the cold. 
She grew rapidly worse, was put in bed and 
carefully nursed. Physicians were scarce and 
far off, and people often had to go without 
them, even when sorely needed, but in this case 
one was summoned from Olean and he pro- 
nounced it a case of typhus or typhoid fever. 
Thomas Gilbert and Thomas Bee were stricken 
with it, but after many weeks the first three 
recovered, but two of their faithful nurses, Har- 
riet and Marrianne Gilbert, were taken, for they 
gave their \ r oung lives as the result of their 
benevolent work. Mrs. Gilbert was a very 
loving mother, but she was not one who put 
her hand to the plough and looked back, for 
years afterward she said to a friend, "I have 
never regretted taking in that poor, sick, little 
girl. Mrs. Gilbert was a Christian. Catherine 
Hanson was still living in her mother's family, 



42 HISTORY OF CERES. 

(Mary Bell's,) at the time of her (Alary Gil- 
bert's) conversion, and speaking of it only a 
short time before her death, said, "That was a 
real conversion and her life was ever after beau- 
tiful from its conformity to the Gospel." Her 
daughters had imbibed their mother's spirit and 
were also Christians, and were read}- for death's 
summons. Mrs. Gilbert was quite well edu- 
cated, a great reader, and an intelligent woman. 
There were a number of others who had the 
fever, so that it was a sad time. 

John Bell and his wife lived many years in the 
home they had made at the mouth of the stream 
still called Bell's Run, He was buried in a little 
plot of ground on the north shore of the stream, 
near his wife's grand-daughters, the Gilbert 
girls. It is now the Myrtle cemetery. He died 
in 1828. His wife survived him more than twen- 
ty years, and the wonderfully strong, vigorous 
constitution, gave way to many of the ills that 
beset old age. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, 
lived to see three of her four sons, who came with 
them to this country, married and settled around 
her. One son, Christopher, remained in England 
and never came to this country. Airs. Smith 
was a small woman, very neat, a strict church 
woman, who kept her holidays according to 
English custom, and set in her snow-white cap 
and best dress, keeping Christmas alone with 
her husband at each return of the holiday, as 
long as she lived. Their later years were passed 
with their son William, who built a nice house 
near where his father's had stood. This house 
was painted white, and was for many years the 
only white house for many miles in any direc- 
tion. Thomas Smith died in 1828; his wife in 
1827. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 43 

Uncle Billy Smith, a brother of Thomas, came 
to this country many years after his brother, and 
died here in 1844. He had lived in New York for 
a time, and his wife died there. Two of his chil- 
dren visited him after he came to Ceres, but he 
preferred to stay with his nephews. 

John C. Brevost (Bravo) was one of the early 
settlers that left his mark, though he only re- 
mained here a few years. He bought land and 
built a small house, about half a mile above 
Ceres. I remember hearing of his having a party 
at his house on Februar\'29th, and it must have 
been 1808. He said that he would have one, 
"One of these odd days," and that was decided 
to be the oddest one. Mr. Brevost was well 
educated, a gentleman in his manner, and his 
leaving was a loss felt by the few dwellers here. 
He never brought his family here. His land was 
sold for the benefit of his heirs, I think not far 
from 1840, and was bought by D. and J. Ed- 
wards and Alexander Martin and is now a part 
of the Case and Chamberlain farms. 

Air. Brevost brought a colored boy with him 
to do his cooking and housework. When he left 
"he sold him to William Ayres for $100, and the 
further consideration that he should receive a 
fair, common school education until he was of 
age, when he should be set free." Sometime in 
1808, A\-ers moved to the "Keating farm," six 
miles east of Coudersport, taking this boy with 
him. His name was Asylum Peters. He was 
born in Bradford County, in 1793, Asylum 
township, and the name of the township was 
given him. "He died at Walter Edgecomb's, 
Nov. 24, 1880."— History of McKean, Elk, Cam- 
eron and Potter Counties. He was the onl} T 
slave ever held in Ceres. 

M. Generet (his neighbors pronounced it Jan- 



44 HISTORY OF CERES. 

dray) was a Frenchman, advanced in years, who 
lived by himself in a house that he had shingled 
all over instead of clapboarding. It was nicely 
done, and shewed taste and skill. This house 
was at the Five Mile, being that distance from 
the village laid out by Francis King, on the gent- 
ly sloping hill south of his house. The name of 
Shingle House still clings to the thriving village 
that has sprung up near where the house was 
built. It was about opposite to the mouth of 
Horse Run, and was still standing sometime in 
the thirties. M. Generet left his family in Europe. 
I think that he died here, but can not give the 
date. 

M. Sandal brought a large family, but after a 
few years they, like the Crawford family, went 
"down the river." 

Most of the early settlers were English of the 
middle class, and had trades. Francis King, be- 
sides being a surveyor, was an engraver on cop- 
per for printing. Numerous plates are still in 
existence of his carving. Thomas Smith was a 
miller; John Bell a saddle and harness maker; 
John Bell, Sr., a cabinet maker; and James King 
a tanner and currier. 

The first tannery in the country was built by 
James King, on Mill Creek, about half a mile 
from its mouth. He built a good frame building 
and sunk vats, but hides were scarce and the in- 
vestment not proving profitable, the business 
was given up, and he removed to Olean, but re- 
turned in 1827 and bought land adjoining John 
Bell's, where he engaged in farming. 

When in course of the war of 1812, so-called, 
the burning of Buffalo (Buffaloe then) was an- 
nounced by an Indian runner, who, like Roder- 
ick Dhu's Molise, scarcely paused in passing to 
make a few short sounds, terror was communi- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 45 

cated by the Indians (who from those brief 
words had received quite a history of the event) 
to the white settlers, some moved away, and 
others wished to go; but the first comers to 
the wilderness had found so much kindness 
and friendliness from their Indian neighbors ; 
such unbroken good faith that they were not 
alarmed. — M. w. M. 

Kittie Hanson, somewhere near this time, re- 
ceived a severe fright. She was a young girl, and 
was alone in John Bell's house, her home, when 
two Indians came in, as was the Indian custom, 
very quietly and without rapping. She could 
not understand what they said, and they tried 
to make her know their wants by signs, so they 
brandished their knives around their own heads, 
which she supposed meant that they would kill 
her. She stood in the middle of the not over- 
large living room, so intensely frightened that 
she could neither move nor speak. Mr. Bell, very 
fortunately, came to the house at that, to her, 
critical time, and the Indians soon made him un- 
derstand that they wished to grind their knives 
on his grindstone, which he was very willing 
that they should do. 

The Indians of this section were themselves 
afraid during the war of 1812, and showed no 
disposition to harm the whites at any time. 
They were employed by the early settlers as mes- 
sengers, mail carriers, etc. The only defect that 
I ever heard of in their dealings, was that they 
did not understand the permanence of a sale, but 
would want what they had sold returned to 
them after awhile; still there was no quarreling 
nor serious trouble ever with them. 

The following I have copied from an old letter 
of Robert and Elizabeth Clendenon to their son 
in Philadelphia. It bears date, May 30,1812. 



46 HISTORY OF CERES. 

They were on their way to the Friends' Mission 
among the Indians at Tunesassa on the Alle- 
gany, and their daughters Hannah and Lydia 
accompanied them and were both teachers there 
for sometime. They came from the neighbor- 
hood of Philadelphia and were fifteen days on 
the journey, traveling all the distance with 
horses and wagon until the\- reached the mouth 
of the Oswayo, from whence they floated down 
the river by raft, their horses being taken by 
land. They had come up the Susquehanna as far 
as Williamsport and soon after crossed over on 
to Pine Creek. They stopped at William Avers', 
not far from Coudersport, who, with his family, 
were for some years the only white people in 
Potter county. John Keating had induced him 
to go on to his lands and make a clearing, pay- 
ing him ten dollars per acre for clearing and 
giving him also what he could raise upon it for 
several years. It was very hard work making 
a settlement at first, as they had to go forty or 
fifty miles for provisions, and through an almost 
trackless wilderness, over rugged mountains, 
and often through raging streams. 

The Clendenons crossed the Oswayo oppo- 
site the Crawford's at Five Mile (now Shin- 
gle House), or near it. They stopped at John 
Bell's, Sr., where they dined and then went on 
to Francis King's, but on their way to the latter 
place met Joel Swayne, one of the Friends from 
Tunesassa, who had come to meet them, and 
had built the raft on which they were to descend 
the Allegany to Tunesassa. The raft was ready, 
so that Monday they put their wagon upon 
it and started on their watery way. 

The following item of interest is given in this 
letter: "Two young men who had built a saw- 
mill and were carrying on their work with 



HISTORY OF CERES. 47 

alacrity, were burned out the day before they 
arrived at Ceres. Their names were Watson 
and Smith. That day the water failed, and to 
ascertain the cause they went some distance up 
the race. While they were absent the mill 
caught fire, and from it the stables and house, 
and it being a dry day and the buildings mostly 
of pine, they, with their contents, were soon all 
destroyed. There were several barrels of flour 
burned, and, as it had been brought all the way 
from Pittsburg, must have been a very serious 
loss. 

Robert Clendenon speaks of Francis King as a 
very kind man ; that he had cleared much land 
and that grass grew luxuriantly, but that there 
was not much grain raised. As he was absent 
much of the warm weather on his long survey- 
ing trips, he could not have looked after his 
farming as carefully as it needed. 

Robert Clendenon further mentions that Fran- 
cis King had both a sawmill and a gristmill and 
that they were not doing much, from which I 
conclude that the mill which was burned was 
near the present site of George Smith's old mill. 
The road from Ceres to Millgrove, or the mouth 
of the Oswayo, was the worst they had passed 
over in their long journey, and probably was 
not much used. 

The object of the Friends in their missions to 
the Indians seems to have been first to civilize, 
then to Christianize them. The Indians loved 
and trusted them, as well they might, for they 
sought neither their lands nor wealth in any 
form; but few of them ever embraced the simple 
faith of the Quakers. There is no civilizing 
agency equal to the Gospel. The Moravians, 
who, in their simplicity and kindness, were per- 
haps the most like the Quakers, fully proved this 



48 HISTORY OF CERES. 

in their world-wide missions, and the Green- 
landers and Icelanders, as well as the Hottentot 
and Caribee Indians and the natives of the West 
India Islands, and the Eskimo of Labrador and 
recentlj' of Alaska, have gladly received the Gos- 
pel as the Way of Life, and then have been eager 
to adopt the civilization of their teachers. 
Inducing them to adopt the symbol of the cross 
would have worked no such transformation as 
the story of the love of Christ has, when it has 
been received into the heart, as we have abund- 
ant proof among the Mexican Indians, as well as 
those of South America. 

There was a remarkable snow storm. I think 
it must have been in the early twenties. While 
I cannot remember the year I remember dis- 
tinctly the month and day from often hearing it 
given, May 19th. The snow on that and the 
previous night fell until it was two feet deep. 
In the course of three days it was mostly gone, 
but a flood followed. While it lasted it caused 
much suffering to the cattle, horses and sheep, 
as no one was prepared for such a storm. 

Another remarkable snow storm occurred on 
the 29th of September, 1842. This coming while 
trees were in full leaf broke down very many 
entirely, or in part. All the latter part of the 
night of the 28th and through the 29th the 
snow fell, and it was distressing to hear the 
breaking of trees in the woods and orchards. 
There was no fruit that year, or several follow- 
ing years, or it would have caused still greater 
damage to the trees. 

Thomas Smith and his descendants: 

There has already been a brief memorial of 
John, who died in 1840. He was a man of much 
enterprise and energy. His oldest son, William 
M., married Alary Silsby, of Friendship, and he 



HISTORY OF CERES. 49 

built the house where P. M. Van Wormer now 
lives. He had three children, but they all died, 
lie himself died in 1886, and several years after 
his wife died, completely obliterating the family. 
Of the second son, GeorgeN., there has already 
been mention made. He was one of the few that, 
with the exception of several years, had always 
been a resident of the place, and his wife still 
lives here, and also his daughter, but his son 
moved to Olean some years since. 

Riley, the third son, after spending many years 
away from here — latterly in Richburg — has re- 
turned within a few years and bought the place 
on the Olean road built, and for some years occu- 
pied by H. A. Rose, which he has improved 
materially, making it a pleasant home place. 
He has two sons married, and living at long dis- 
tances away. His only daughter is the wife of 
R. R. Robarts, and with her child are living at 
her parents' home. 

Almira, the oldest daughter, married Y. P. 
Carter, in 1842, and died in 1874, leaving three 
children, Frances, the oldest, becoming the wife 
of Frank Commerford and removing to Indiana, 
where she still lives, though Air. Commerford 
has died and she is again married. She has three 
daughters. Ella, the second daughter, married 
John J. Robarts. She died in 1875, and left one 
daughter. Henry, the only son, is living in 
Missouri. 

Laura died many years since, but Martha Jane 
is still living, and on her mother's old place. She 
has two daughters, the older the wife of C. H. 
Gleason, and the younger a successful teacher. 

John Smith's wife was Lucy Mott. After re- 
maining a widow several years, she married 
Joseph Morse, Sr., who was for a time one of the 



50 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Associate Judges of McKean county. She died 
in 1878. 

William Smith had three sons and three daugh- 
ters. His wife was Kittie Hanson, who has 
elsewhere been mentioned as having; been brought 
here by Mary Bell, wife of John Bell, Sr., in the 
early part of the century. Her parents were 
supposed to have been victims of the yellow 
fever, as she had memories of a pleasant home, 
but no relatives ever came to claim her. She 
married well, and was happy in a home of her 
own, where she passed away peacefully in 1872. 
Her husband died in 1875, at the age of seventy- 
eight. He was partially blind for many years, 
and almost entirely the last several years, but 
was patient and cheerful under his affliction. 

Christopher, the oldest son, was for many 
years one of the proprietors of the Oswayo 
House, but sold out and engaged in merchandise, 
which he continued until his sudden death in 
1878. His wife was Caroline Warren, of Cuba. 
She is still living, though in feeble health. They 
had but one child, a daughter, now the wife of 
C. B. Cleveland. 

William Hanson, the second son, married Car- 
oline, oldest daughter of John Holley. They 
moved to Allentown, where William H. died in 
188-1. He left two children, a daughter and son. 

John Wesley, the third son, married Florence, 
the second daughter of John Austin. They re- 
moved to Olean in 1889. They have two sons, 
and their removal was regretted almost as much 
for their boys' sake as for their own ; but there 
is so little business here that those who have 
boys need to look up some place where there is 
better opportunities in the way of obtaining a 
livelihood, as well as facilities for educating both 
boys and girls. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 51 

Harriet, oldest daughter of William Smith, 
married Joseph Trumbull in 1844, and died in 
1866, leaving two daughters, the older, Nellie, 
the wife of Luther J. Austin and living on the 
Young's place, the second house built by Jacob 
Young, and occupied for many years by his fam- 
ily. The other, Stella, married Henry Otto, of 
Farmers Valley, and lives there. 

Isabella, the second daughter, married A. C. 
Hovey, and is still living. They have two 
daughters, Minnie, wife of J. J. Robarts, and 
Maud, who is fitting' herself for a teacher. 

Lucy, the third daughter, married G. B. Gil- 
lett, of Batavia, and have been residents of Olean 
since in 1881. They have two children, a son 
and daughter, the son having a large printing 
establishment, and the daughter is the wife c*f 
D. F. Randolph. The removal of Mr. Gillett's 
famih' from Ceres was much regretted, but so 
long as there is so little business to afford scope 
for the ambition of the young, as the\- come on 
the scene of action, it will be so. It is a pity 
that those whose narrow policy in keeping out 
business plants, could not have foreseen this. 

Of Henry Smith's large family but four remain, 
three daughters and one son. Henry married 
for his first wife, Clarissa George, a sister of Mrs. 
Jacob Young, who had come from New Hamp- 
shire to visit her. After a few years she died leav- 
ing three small children, the second of whom is 
still living — Elizabeth, the widow of Arnestus 
Deitz. Her home is with one of her daughters in 
Minneapolis. She has three daughters and one 
son living. Her sister Mary, the oldest of her 
father's children, has also two children living. 

Henry Smith married for his second wife Susan 
Palmer, by whom he had six children, two of 
whom are still living — Lucv Emily, wife of Xel- 



52 HISTORY OF CERES. 

son Peabod\ r , of Washburn, Illinois, and Harriet, 
the youngest, who has a pleasant home with her 
sister. The second wife dying in 1848, he mar- 
ried Alary Ann Rice, who died in 1893. She had 
two children, one of whom, a daughter, died 
man\ r years since ; but the son lives on the old 
place, and is a successful farmer and respected 
citizen. Indeed, all of Henry Smith's children 
have done him honor. Henry Smith died in 1878 
at the age of eighty. 

William Bell, son of John Bell, Sr., who came 
with him to this country, married in 1813, 
Martha, third daughter of Francis King. They 
had nine children, three of whom have died. 
Five are living in the vicinity, and the second 
son in Kansas. The oldest daughter, the widow 
of William Weber, lives with her two daughters 
in Sardinia, near Buffalo, N. Y. 

William Bell was a man of much energy and 
industry, as his large farm showed. After Fran- 
cis King's death he bought part of what had 
been his farm, and soon built what must have 
been considered a nice house for the times. This he 
occupied until 1842, when he built the house still 
occupied by a part of his family. He was noted 
for his genial hospitality, and was prominent in 
the county for many years, and usually held 
some office. He died in 1870 at the age of 
eighty. His wife was one of the sweetest, gen- 
tlest women, that ever graced a home. She lived 
until 1885, when she passed away at the age of 
ninety-five and one month, having attained the 
greatest age of any the residents of Ceres, with 
the exception of Thomas Bee. 

John Bell, Jr., was the first settler on the New 
York side of the line. He took up land of the 
Holland Land Co. in 1817, and in 1818 built a 
large house, for the times, of hewed logs. In 



HISTORY OF CERES. 53 

December of the same year he married Jane, 
fourth daughter of Francis Kmg. In this house 
their thirteen children were born, twelve of 
whom lived to maturity, six sons and six daugh- 
ters, the oldest, a son, dying in his infancy. In 
1846 he built, across the road from the old 
house, the house now occupied by R. R. Bell. 
Here lie lived until 1875, when he passed quietly 
away, his wife having died two years before 
him. He was a hardworking, industrious man, 
much more intelligent than the ordinary settlers, 
and eager that his children should be well edu- 
cated. His wile was a woman remarkably well 
fitted for pioneer life, seldom being otherwise 
than cheerful and hopeful, and with the wonder- 
ful ability to find some resource out of the 
unnumbered perplexities that would constantly 
arise. She died at the age of seven ty-seven. 

When the log house was built the road was 
near it, but on account of its overflowing in 
high water, it was moved to its present loca- 
tion, until near the brook, when it was taken a 
few rods up the hill, but was again changed, in 
the latter part of the forties or early fifties, to 
its ]> resent place. 

Rowland R. Bell, the youngest son, now occu- 
pies the old homestead, and being a good farmer, 
the place continues to improve under his occu- 
pancy, and there are probably few better farms 
in this section. The hard work of the father 
and sons shows in the beautiful meadows and 
hillsides and the large orchards. The work of 
removing the pine stumps was a formidable 
undertaking, but they were so slow to decay 
that it was necessary to do it. The patent 
stump machine, and later dynamite, have pretty 
well cleaned most farms, but the stump fences 
built of them will long remain their memorial. 



54 HISTORY OF CERES. 

The first orchards that were set out have had 
to be replaced b\ T new ones which are yeilding 
more and better fruit. 

Four of the six children of John Bell who are 
still living, have their homes west of the Rocky 
mountains. 

Mar\ r , the second daughter, married Lafayette 
Cartee of Coudersport, and removed to Oregon 
in 1855. She died in 1862, leaving four young 
children. Her brother Welding and his wife, 
who were living in California at the time, went 
to their care, and Mrs. Bell remained with them 
until the\' were grown. They are all married 
now, and are useful citizens. Their father has 
died within a few years. 

Caroline Bell, the oldest daughter went West 
in 1879, and has kept house for her brothers, 
Welding and Wilson, since that time at Lewis- 
ton, Idaho. 

Mrs. Ledyard went to San Jose, California, in 
1876, accompanied by her two younger children. 
Her older son, Henr\^ C, was already established 
there as a dentist, though he frequently made 
long journeys and became a noted traveler. 
He had, when quite young, accompanied his 
father on one of his trips to Central America. 
From California he went to the Sandwich Islands 
and Australia, later to the Philippine Islands, 
and spent some time in China, when he returned 
and married Lizzie, daughter of Dr. Corey of San 
Jose. He soon returned to China, and went from 
there to Siberia, where he spent a summer, when, 
with his wife and little boy, he made the over- 
land journev to St. Petersburg in the winter 
of 1880. Not finding the climate healthful there, 
he went in less than a year to Constantinople, 
where he remained for some years, when he 
returned to the United States, visiting most of 



HISTORY OF CERES. oT) 

the cities of southern Europe and making a tour 
of the British Isles. He removed to Los Angelos, 
where he intended to establish himself perma- 
nently, but died in less than a year, from pneu- 
monia. He left three children, who, with their 
mother, live in San Jose. Frank K. Ledyard, 
his brother, learned the dental business of him 
and has for many years been a prominent den- 
tist in San Jose. He, too, married a daughter of 
Dr. Corey, and his mother and sister live with 
him. May, the only daugther living, is principal 
of the San Jose Kindergarten Training- School. 
Airs. Ledyard, after many sorrows from the 
death of husband and children, is happy in being 
near, or with, her remaining children and grand- 
children. 

Robert Bell, the fourth son of John Bell, after 
spending many years on the Pacific coast, re- 
turned to Ceres in 1869 and married Helen Rich- 
ardson, of Cuba. A few months after he accom- 
panied Dr. T. C. Ledyard on his last trip to Cen- 
tral America, being also a dentist. They made 
an extensive and successful tour, and had accum- 
ulated so much gold that it excited the cupidity 
of their guides, who had been furnished by a 
friend and were considered reliable. They were 
to cross that day the high range of mountains 
separating them from the eastern coast, where 
they were to embark for home. It was to be 
their last hard day of travel, and they were 
especially happy in the thought of their home- 
coming, when first one, then the other, were cut 
down, almost simultaneously, by their guides. 
They were well armed, but were taken off their 
guard. Afterwards their bodies were found and 
buried, and a pile of stones put over them, a 
cross set up, and after long weary weeks of wait- 
ing for their return, there came a letter from the 



56 HISTORY OF CERES. 

American Consul, at the nearest seaport, an- 
nouncing" their death. 

Willson Bell had come from Idaho on account 
of his mother's serious illness, and the next 
spring he went to bring the bodies home for bur- 
ial, and if possible to recover some of the money 
and other valuables they had with them. One 
of the robbers and murderers had been arrested 
and held for a time, but had again been allowed 
his libert\-; so that neither money nor other val- 
uables could be found, with the exception of 
some of their dental tools and a few articles of 
clothing. Owing to the unsettled condition of 
the country he could not even bring their bodies 
home. The highest prized thing obtained was 
Dr. Ledyard's diarj, containing the most loving 
words to his wife, the last words having been 
penned only the night before his death. 

Robert's wife had a baby girl born three 
weeks after the sad news was received. It lived 
to be seven months old when it, too, died, leav- 
ing the bride of a year and a half a widow and 
childless. She moved to Olean, where, being a 
superior musician, she has supported herself by 
teaching music. 

Frank, the fifth son of John Bell, died April 1, 
1894. He had been a brave soldier, but was 
sadly mutilated by rebel bullets, and suffered 
almost as much, if not quite so, from rebel boast- 
ing at Washington, where he was an agent in 
the Pension Bureau. He left a wife, one daugh- 
ter and three sons. 

TOST OFFICES. 

The first post office was established at Ceres 
in October, 1817. John King was the first post- 
master. The commission signed by Postmas- 
ter General Meigs is now in the possession of 



HISTORY OF CERES. 57 

Mrs. M. \V. Mann, of Coudersport. The next 
year William Bell was appointed J. King's suc- 
cessor, he having resigned to accept the appoint- 
ment of Dept. Surveyor. InlNlil Thomas Smith 
was appointed post master and held the office 
for about nine years, when John King was again 
appointed and held the office for some years. 
It was finally removed to the village of Ceres 
and to the New York side, where it has been 
held ever since. 

From 1820 to 1824- the mail was carried by a 
boy on horse-back from Jersey Shore to Olean 
once in two weeks, the distance between the two 
places being 109 miles. This boy, Moses Haney, 
continued to be the mail carrier, either by 
wagon or on horse-back, tip to 1838 or 1839. 
He was one of the most faithful and unfailing of 
carriers and was commissioned with numberless 
errands all along his route. 

After 1832 a two-horse stage ran once a week 
over the route, and after another four years 
twice a week, but there were some irregularities. 
As near as I can learn the mail was not carried 
oftener than twice a week until after the X. V. 
& E. R. R. was completed in 1851, when Charles 
Rounds began running a daily stage from Ceres 
to Olean which carried the mail. A little later 
a daily stage from Ceres to Friendship was also 
established and kept up until 1879 when a nar- 
row guage railroad was built from Olean to 
Friendship through Ceres, thus connecting Ceres 
at two points with the X. Y. & E. R. R. 

Charles Rounds did much to make Ceres 
readily accessible to the traveling public, as he 
was noted for his promptness and reliability 
and made his trips regularly where probably no 
other man would have done it. This was the 
more noteworthy as he had but one arm and 



58 HISTORY OF CERES. 

had often to shovel snow and tread the road 
for his horses over the Notch Hill, one of the 
most difficult roads to travel on account of the 
snow drifting into it constantly. It was much 
easier to communicate with Olean and Friend- 
ship and places intermediate before the mails 
were carried on the railroad. 

FRANKLIN LIBRARY COMPANY. 

In the winter of 1836 the subject of having a 
circulating librae was agitated, with so much 
earnestness, that a meeting was called, trustees 
appointed, and an act of incorporation secured 
which was recorded March 3, 1836. Daniel Ed- 
wards was chosen chairman, and Paul Crandall 
secretary. At first eight trustees were chosen : 
Henry Chevalier, John King, William Bell, Wil- 
liam P. Stillman, John Smith, Paul Crandall, 
John Edwards and Ebenezer D. Bliss. The 
shares were two dollars each, and the tax upon 
a share twelve and one-half cents per \ r ear. 
There were nearly seventy shares sold. Over 
one hundred dollars had been raised by subscrip- 
tion before the act of incorporation was sought, 
so that as soon as possible they bought books 
and had them in circulation, and kept up the 
library for twenty-five years, when the books 
were distributed among the patrons. Henry 
Chevalier made the greater part of the early 
purchases of the books. John Keating, of Phila- 
delphia, made a liberal donation ; also Adam 
Waldie, of the same city. The books, though 
valuable, were published at low rates, so that 
there were a much larger number than could be 
supposed possible with the funds raised. Among 
these books were Rollins' Ancient History, 
Franklin's Works (6 vols.), Irving's Works (5 
vols.), Goldsmith's Animated Nature (-1 vols.), 



HISTORY OF CERES. 59 

Byron Works (8 vols. ), Plutarch's Lives (4 vols.), 
Waverly Novels, History of France (4 vols.), 
History of England (9 vols.), Lardner's Cyclo- 
pedia, Milton's Poems, Cowper's Poems, Dick's 
Works, and many others. The few who kept 
their dues paid were greatly interested and 
benefited by the varied reading which this library 
afforded. There were no daily papers in circula- 
tion, nor even semi-weekly, for many years after 
the library was incorporated. It was a great 
pity that it was ever allowed to be given up. 
There has never been a general library in the 
place since. 

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AT CERES. 

The earliest settlers, the Kings, were Friends ; 
so also were the Bells, who came four years later. 
Beside these there were John Watson and his 
wife, who were here for a few years, and whom 
we conclude were especially devoted Christians ; 
and William Lister, who came about the same 
time that the Smiths did. He had a nephew, 
who came here before the twenties, who had 
been brought up a Friend, but who probably 
took little interest in religious matters. 

This little company had frequent visits from 
the Friends, who were missionaries among the 
Indians on the Allegany river, until more direct 
routes were opened by which they could reach 
their fields of labor. Then for many years none 
came; but early in the forties a delegation of 
four or five Friends came from Philadelphia. 
They held meetings and tried to have a Friend's 
meeting established here. It was kept up for a 
time at the house of John King, but was allowed 
to die out. After a time some other delegations 
came. Once there was preaching by them in the 
church, at another time at Mary Bell's, at or 



60 HISTORY OF CERES. 

near what is now known as Myrtle. Then for 
many years none came. The last delegation 
came in 1864. They held no meetings, and ap- 
parently gave up the oversight of the few who 
still regarded themselves as members of the 
Society. 

The itinerant Methodist found his way here 
before 1820, but how much earlier I can not 
ascertain, but probably several 3^ears, as the one 
previously mentioned as having come to Jacob 
Young's and speaking of himself as "the mission- 
ary," would imply that they were supposed to 
have some knowledge of those who were sent 
out to preach the Gospel through this section of 
country. 

The Smith family belonged to the Church of 
England, and of course neither affiliated with 
the Friends nor the Methodists. Mrs. Young 
was an earnest Baptist before she came here and 
sought to continue so. There was a Mrs. Reed 
who lived in "the house on the hill," and wore a 
plain black bonnet, made like those the Friends 
wore. She was a Methodist. Later Mrs. Lull 
came, and she wore the same style of bonnet. 
She must have come early in the thirties. 

There were also a few Seventh Day Baptists 
who must have come about the same time, or a 
little before. Mrs. Lull had several daughters 
who either came with her or soon after. They 
were also Methodists. Elder Henry Green of 
Little Genesee held a series of meetings during 
which there were a number of conversions. 
These meetings were held for a time in \Vm. 
Smith's house. There was only the small school- 
house with its fire place for any public gathering 
in the winter time. In the summer a barn could 
be seated and used. Among the converts at this 
time, were Jacob Young, Win. Smith and wife, 



HISTORY OF CERES. 61 

Henry Smith and wife, Laura Phelps, wife of 
Isaae Phelps, Mrs. Daniel Edwards, Mrs. John 
Edwards, John Smith and wife and others 
whose names cannot now be ascertained. 

There were revivals the winter of 1833 from 
Friendship to Hinsdale, but how many joined at 
Ceres I do not know as there is no record, 
though Ceres ( then Smith Settlement ) is men- 
tioned. — [Conable's Hist, of Gen. Con. 

Mrs. Lull, Mrs. Young and Mrs. William Smith 
and others wished to join some church, but not 
the Seventh Day Baptist, and Mrs. Lull, being 
already a Methodist, proposed that they have 
a class organized by a Methodist minister. 
There was none nearer than Friendship where 
one had an engagement once a month. Airs. Lull 
offered to undertake to get him to come here. 
To do this she probably had to walk to Friend- 
ship and back. She was successful in her mission 
and on January 4-th, 1832, a class was organ- 
ized. 

I do not know the number in the class, but 
most of those who were converted at that time; 
also Mrs. Young, Mrs. Lull, and probably some 
of Mrs. Lull's daughters. Henry Smith and wife 
joined the Seventh Day Baptists, as she had been 
brought up in the faith of that church. 

There was a protracted meeting held in Daniel 
Carr's large, new barn in 1834, in which there 
were a number of conversions and accessions to 
the little class. 

In 1837 there was another meeting held for 
several weeks. This was in Clark Stillman's 
barn, which was on the right hand of the road 
going south over the bridge and but a little way 
from it. The converts were quite numerous and 
the meetings were continued in the Pennsylvania 
schoolhouse for weeks after thev were closed in 



62 HISTORY OF CERES. 

the barn. Among the converts at this time were 
Wm. Weber and wife, Amos, Lucy and Clarissa 
Young, and I think Lister Hargraves and wife, 
and many others whose names are lost. These 
meetings were conducted by a Methodist minister 
of the name of Loomis Benjamin who was reg- 
ularly appointed minister for a circuit that inclu- 
ded Bolivar, Friendship, Belvidere, on the east, 
and Portville on the west. 

He formed the plan of building a church and 
worked diligently to carry it out. The people, 
generally, and the church members in particular, 
were poor, but it is astonishing to know with 
what liberality they contributed. After the 
church was completed the pews were sold. This 
was hardly according to Methodist usage, and 
grieved the minister sadly who had worked so 
hard to build. Those who had subscribed turn- 
ed their subscriptions towards the price of their 
pews. Though it is well on to sixty 3'ears since, 
some still hold their pews with the same te- 
nacity they do their farms, and as the pews were 
deeded, and the deeds recorded the same as for 
their homesteads, the}' undoubtedly have the 
right to do so, but pewed churches are not an in- 
telligent exhibition of the spirit of Christianity, 
and are often the cause of persons staying away 
from church who have no seats there. It was 
so here. 

John Smith gave the land on which the church 
was built. It is partly in Pennsylvania and 
partly in New York. He also assisted liberally 
in furnishing material for building. He died the 
next summer after it was built, and his was the 
first funeral held in it. He was greatly mourned. 

Though the first subscriptions were made in 
1838, with such energy was the work prosecut- 
ed that in the fall of 1839 the church was dedi- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 63 

cated. It was painted outside and in, and with 
much graining in imitation of curled maple; the 
pews on the outside, down the aisles and front 
of them and pulpit, being finished up in this way. 
The pews were made with doors and had fasten- 
ings of little brass buttons. These doors were 
retained until the church was made over for the 
first time in 1864. The high pulpit had been re- 
moved before, the circular altar rail and plat- 
form were removed then, also the gallery, which 
occupied the north end of the church. The two 
little vestibules were then prepared for entrance, 
but when the church was again repaired on the 
interior, these were closed on the outside and re- 
main so. A bell was put in the church in 1862, 
or thereabouts, and blinds to the windows not 
far from that time. So many changes have been 
made that but little remains as it was at first, 
excepting the walls, floor and steeple. It has 
been repainted on the outside two or three times. 
The addition built on to it in 1890, during the 
pastorate of Rev. J. S. Brown has been very help- 
ful in Sunday School work. There were several 
improvements made while Rev. W. F. Farnham 
was pastor; the warming of the church by gas, 
and the changing of the seats so as to have the 
main aisle down the middle of the church, and re- 
storing the front doors to their original place, 
were among these. 

Probably the largest church membership at 
any time was after the revival of 1843, but as it 
was about the time of the coming up of the 
Millerite excitement, when the second coming of 
Christ was looked for on a set day in the March 
following, many fell back when they found that 
the world was not to be 1 turned then. 

In 1847 there were a number of conversions, 
and again in 1851, but not many at any one 



64 HISTORY OF CERES. 

time until the beginning of 1862, when they 
were numerous, but through outside influences 
not many joined the church. Again in 1873 
there were a good many converts. Since then 
there has been a gain now and then, so that the 
membership is now larger than at any time 
during the sixties or seventies, and perhaps the 
eighties. The church has had very much to con- 
tend against, there being sometimes foes within 
as always foes without, but has always had 
more or less faithful, earnest members, who have 
worked for the best interests of the church and 
community, notwithstanding all the opposition 
they were called to bear. 

The young at the present time cannot credit 
how large the audiences were in the early years 
after the church was built, nor of the crowds 
that came to quarterly meetings. The circuit 
extended to Friendship and beyond, and I think 
Friendship was the home of the minister who 
preached here. As early as 1817 there was a 
resident minister at Bolivar, but none at Ceres 
until the parsonage was built by Rev. William 
Weber in the fall of 1866. The circuit was sep- 
arated from Bolivar at the Conference in 1866, 
and extended after a year or more, to Oswayo. 

For several years there were two ministers 
appointed who were to alternate in the work, 
changing pulpits every other week. This prov- 
ing burdensome, it was given up. The minister 
at Ceres preached at Honeoye and Shingle 
House. After a number of years Honeoye and 
Shingle House were set off from Ceres circuit and 
Bell's Run taken on, and this arrangement still 
continues. 

Among the earliest ministers whom I can 
recollect were Bush, McKinster, Eaton, Benja- 
min, Eaton, Smith, Hoyt, Burlingame, Goodell, 



HISTORY OF CERES. 65 

Harris, Kennarcl, Mason, Rooney, Pratt, Robert 
Thomas, Roberts, Hood, Delamatyr, Chamber- 
layne, Potter, Rogers, Pierce, Weber, Alexander, 
Pierce, Guernsey, Torrey, Patterson, A. B. Kel- 
lev, Post, Blanchard, Farnham, Brown, B. M. 
Kelley, Irwin and Carryer. Eaton and Pierce 
were each sent here at two different times. 

Among the Presiding Elders were Hemingway, 
Eliezer Thomas, A. D. Wilbor, Kingsley, Bur- 
lingham, Chambers, Ripley, Tnttle, E. A. Rice, 
Watson, L. A. Stevens, 0. S. Chamberlayne, 
Biss-dl and Latimer. Eliezer Thomas went to 
California to edit The Pacific Christian Advo- 
cate. He was alter appointed by Grant a Peace 
Commissioner to the Modoes, and was by them 
shot down while carrying a flag of truce to them. 

As there was no other church building 
here, some persons had contributed towards 
building this who were not Methodists, or 
whose preferences did not incline them that 
way; notably among whom were Henry Smith, 
a Seventh day Baptist, F. W. Leonard, a Pres- 
byterian; Wm. Bell and Robert King, Friends; 
Lewis Wood a Universalist and John Keating a 
Catholic; ($20) — there was a clause put in the 
deed giving the privilege of using it to other de- 
nominations when the Methodists had no ap- 
pointment there, and it has always been freely 
used by whoever wished it. 

Account of the sale of slips in the church, 1839. 

No. Name of Purchaser. Price. Paid. 

1 L.Potter $45.00 Rent, $ 5.00 

2 William Smith 4-5.00 45.00 

3 William Weber 45.50 45.00 

4 Lemuel Smith 36.50 36.50 

5 Darius Wheeler 38.00 38.00 

6 Alexander Martin 38.00 38.00 

7 Cyrus Cooper 34.50 34.50 



66 HISTORY OF CERES. 

8 Daniel Karr 30.50 30.50 

9 Lister Hargraves 28.00 18.00 

10 Veranus Ackerman.... 26.50 26.50 

11 Joseph Rork 20.00 20.00 

12 Robert King 20.00 20.00 

13 

14 Loval Stephens 41.00. 



15 Hemy Smith 45.50 45.50 

16 Cvrus Cooper 49.50 29.50 

17 Hiram Wilson 53.00 53.00 

18 LumanRice 37.50 37.50 

19 William Smith 61.00 61.00 

20 Mvron McCord 60.00 60.00 

21 John Smith 58.00 58.00 

22 F.W.Leonard 54.50 54.50 

23 Samuel Eastev 49.50 49.50 

24 William Bell 44.00 44.00 

25 J. Deitz and M. King. 41.00. .bvM.K. 5.00 

26 39.00...." 

27 20.00 

28 Edward Steenrod 20.00 20.00 

29 Benjamin Perkins 27.00 27.00 

30 Russel Cooper 28.00 28.00 

31 36.00 Rent, 5.00 

32 38.00 

33 Nelson Peabodv 44.00 44.00 

34 Jacob Young 39.50 

35 Samuel Eastev 42.00.. B'ght M> 42.00 

36 45.00 Rent, 3.00 

37 Harvey Bridge 45.00 Rent, 

38 45.00 ^-^z: 

$1480.50 $1023.50 

The slips were prized at $1480.50 

Received from this sale 1023.50 

The expense of building 1208.25 

Bible and hvmn book 4.50 

Lamps 10.00 

Leaving a debt of. 199.75 



HISTORY OF CERES. 



67 



William Smith assumed this debt after his 
brother John's death. 

There were some subscriptions where slips 
were not bought or taken in payment. Wheeler 
and Martin paid $6 more than the price of their 
slips; William Scott paid $8 and John Keating 
$20, as has already been mentioned, and Robert 
Rork $3. 

The stoves, with their long reaches of pipe, 
must have been a large bill, but they are not 
mentioned. 

( I have not been able to find the original ledger 
containing these aeeounts so there will probably 
be some ehanges to make when it is found. ) 

The Methodist Church at Portville was dedi- 
cated in 184-6, and after that, though many at- 
tended the Quarterly Meetings, they did not 
come to the usual services. A number there sub- 
scribed largely, more than they arecredited with 
on the sale of pews. I have only a little record 
to draw upon, which was drawn from a ledger 
which has not been found. Luman Rice, Lemuel 
Smith and Darius Wheeler each subscribed $50, 
also Hiram Willson, and from what I remember 
hearing about it I have no doubt they all paid 
their subscriptions. 

Before the church was built a Sunday School 
had been kept up for a number of years in the 
schoolhouse on the New York side of the line. 
Mrs. John Eastey and Mrs. Lull were the princi- 
pal teachers, but I can ascertain little more 
about it. After the church was dedicated it was 
held there. William Austin, who was a local 
Methodist ministerand who had recently moved 
into the place, superintended it tor a number of 
years; then William Austin moving away, Wil- 
liam Weber took charge, and after him a woman 
by the name of Coon; but Amos Young superin- 



68 HISTORY OF CERES. 

tended it for the longest time of any one, as near- 
fy as I can recollect between twelve and fifteen 
years. His brother-in-law Harvey Tillotson 
took charge for a time, but after the revival in 
1862, B. H. Call superintended it the greater 
part of the time for eight or ten years. He was 
followed in a few years by M. F. Riley who su- 
perintended it for several years, but C. A. Warner 
superintended for most of the time for eleven 
years. After the church was built the Sunday 
School was kept up summer and winter with the 
exception of one or two winters. 

The school was not large, but there was not 
the difference between those earlier years and 
the later that we might expect. There were ex- 
cellent teachers which helped to make it a pow- 
er for good in the place. Soon after the church 
was dedicated, Maiw King, now Mrs. M. W. 
Mann, of Coudersport, became one of the teach- 
ers, also Eloisa A. Dutton, afterwards Mrs. 
Joseph Mann, who was a teacher for some time 
on the Pennsylvania side of the line, and their 
husbands also taught some, but not as long as 
they. Caroline Bell and Mrs. Ledyard both 
taught for many years. The Young girls, Lucy, 
Clarissa and Charlotte, were all teachers and so 
was Janette King for a number of years. Amos 
Young was, after his conversion, always a 
teacher or superintendent while here. Airs. 
Andrus was for many years a faithful teacher. 
Mrs. Gillett taught for a number ol years, but 
none longer or more faithfully than Mrs. John 
Holly. Mrs. J. A. Smith and Mrs. Caroline 
Smith were faithful standbys for many years, 
and Mrs. Van Wormer was for years an efficient 
teacher, as was also Mrs. Boothe, and later Kit- 
tie Smith, Laura Booth and others did good 
work. In recalling those who worked I am sur- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 69 

prised at the number I recall while I am con- 
scious that I am omitting some. For years Mrs. 
Simon Briggs taught and some of the time su- 
perintended. 

SCHOOLS. 

It was not until the place had been settled a 
good many years that any school was taught. 
Francis King sent first one then another of his 
children to Philadelphia for a time. The older 
three had been to school in England and were 
never sent to Philadelphia or elsewhere. They 
must have improved their advantages while in 
England, for Ann, the oldest daughter, went to 
the vicinity of New York and taught for many 
years in a private seminary. She took her 
youngest sister with her and educated her. 

There was a little schoolhouse a little north of 
where William Smith's house still stands. It 
had a fireplace but no stove. Mrs. Mann thinks 
that Mrs. Young was instrumental in having 
this built as she was one who stimulated all to 
good work. She had been a teacher before her 
marriage, and having children of her own, must 
have felt very eager for their education . She was 
married and came here in 1816; so this little 
building must have been put up earlv in the 
twenties. Mrs. Mann thinks in 1823 or perhaps 
a year later. So far I have not been able to ascer- 
tain who taught the first school in it. Miss Su- 
san Richardson of Bolivar taught several terms. 
Lydia Chevalier came into this part of the 
country in 1826. She taught one or more terms 
in what was known as "the house on the hill." 
As her education was good, it must have been 
rare good fortune to secure her services as teach- 
er. Deborah Cambia, a widowed daughter of 
Mrs. Full, taught in both this small schoolhouse 
and in the larger, which was built in 1835, Airs. 



70 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Mann thinks. She says she attended a writing 
school taught by Mr. Skinner in the first school- 
house. The present schoolhouse was built in 
1855. It has not been used for the past three 
years as the children from that side of the creek 
attend the union school on the New York side, 
which is partially graded. Persons who have 
had no experience in fireplaces could hardly realize 
how uncomfortable it must have been for schol- 
ars who had walked a mile through deep snow 
where there was little path, to try to get warm or 
dry, when often there would be no chance to get 
veiwnear it before the house was well warmed in 
the afternoon, or not very well warmed at any 
time of the clay, when the weather was windy or 
very cold. It is not a wonder that some had life 
long illness fastened upon them there. 

Eddy T. Pratt who had taught the summer 
school of 1834, taught a fall term the same year 
in William Smith's house, in an upstairs room. 
Beside these teachers, Edwin Stillman, of Al- 
fred, taught one summer and Mary King an- 
other. After a little, John S. Mann taught one 
or more terms, and his brother Joseph, several 
winters. Eloisa A. Dutton, afterwards Mrs. 
Joseph Mann, taught several summers. Later 
Matilda Everett, Maria Porter and Miss Abigail 
Maxson should be especially mentioned, and in 
184-4-5 John Mann, father of John S. and Joseph, 
taught a winter term. He and his sons had for 
many years kept a private seminary at Mann- 
ington, near Montrose, Pa., and were a prize 
for a country district school to obtain. The 
young people could have as good advan- 
tages here as if they went away to some larger 
place to attend school. It is the teacher general- 
ly who makes the school. President Garfield 
said he wanted no better college than to have 



HISTORY OF CERES. 71 

President Mark Hopkins, of Williams College, on 
one end of a log and to be himself on the other 
end. 

There must have been some other teachers 
earlier than any mentioned, it would seem, or 
Miss Susan Richardson is the one to whom refer- 
ence is made. The trustees had to conduct the 
examinations to test the applicants efficienc}', 
and, after going through with the legal require- 
ments several times, were inclined to make light 
of it, and so when she came before them they 
could think of nothing wiser to ask her than the 
impertinent question, "Did you ever have a 
beaux, and are you afraid of thunder?" They 
gave her a certificate duly signed. 

On the New York side of the village the school- 
house was built as early as 1833, but it 
may not have been used before the winter of 
1833-4. Hiram Willson was the first teacher, 
and taught for two if not for three winters. He 
was a student from the seminary at Lima, and 
was regarded as a superior teacher. As pen- 
manship was a matter of much importance 
when there were no cop}' books and the teacher 
had to write all the copies, and make the pens, 
too, of goose quills, it was a serious drawback 
to Mr. Willson that his hand trembled so that 
he was not a good penman. 

After Mr. Willson, Edward T. Pratt taught a 
summer term, Julia Main, Deidamia Green, Bar- 
ton Edwards, Sophronia Burdick, Tacey Bab- 
cock, Sardinia Wells, Harriet Maxson, Har- 
riet Nye, Abigal Maxson, Olive Forbes, Armina 
LeSue'r, &c., a list, like the children say, 
"too numerous to mention." Miss Maxson 
taught first in the summer of 1844. The Ed- 
wards, John and Daniel, were generally among 
the three trustees. They succeeded in getting 



72 HISTORY OF CERES. 

her to come and agreed to pay her the unprece- 
dented sum of $20 a month. It is true that she 
was to board herself, but she boarded with her 
sister, Mrs. Green, for seventy-five cents a week. 
She was going through a course of study at 
what was afterwards Ingham University, Leroy, 
and was considered a prize as a teacher. Teach- 
ers had taught for $1.50 a week of five days and 
a half, and as a very general thing boarded 
around. Indeed many teachers taught for less 
than $1.50, — $1.25 was the more common price. 
Miss Maxson inspired her scholars with great 
enthusiasm in their studies and has been remem- 
bered lovingly and gratefully all these years. 
She taught one summer on the Pennsylvania 
side of the line, and in the winter of 18-15-6 at 
Ceres again on the New York side of the line. 
She then went to Alfred as preceptress, where 
she has remained ever since and is now the 
widow of President Allen. 

After several years there came so many com- 
plaints against the Edwards because they paid 
such high prices for teachers, that they chose 
to be set off in a district by themselves. It was 
a serious injury to the village school, but they 
retained their separate school as long as they 
had children of their own to send, when the 
schools were again united, but there never has 
been the interest in the schools there was in 
those earlier days, when history, philosophy, 
botany, rhetoric, algebra, astronomy, chemistry, 
etc., were taught, the teachers doing much work 
out of school hours. 

The village of Ceres was especially unfortu- 
nate in being on both sides of the line between 
Pennsylvania and Xew York so that though 
attempts were made to unite the districts none 
of them were successful until 1893, when the 



HISTORY OF CERES. 73 

school house on the New York side was built 
over and arranged for two departments and 
two teachers. There was some arrangement 
then made so that the scholars from the Penn- 
sylvania side could attend. 

In referring to some of the people of the dis- 
trict objecting to the high wages that were paid 
to teachers by the Edwards in the forties, 
there were those who had children who fully 
seconded them in their efforts to get good teach- 
ers. Chief among those was John Bell, who had 
a large family and was eager to have them well 
educated. Dianah King, though a widow and 
poor, was willing to make heavy sacrifices to 
have her children educated. 

PHYSICIANS. 

The first physician who became a resident of 
Ceres was Dr. Enoch Maxson. He built the 
small house now used as a barn by B\^ron Dan- 
forth. He married the widow Waterbury, a 
daughter of John Darling. After Mr. Van Am- 
burg's death, which was in 1835 or 1836, he 
bought the house on the hill so long known as 
"the John Austin place." Here he lived for 
several years, but sold out and moved west in 
1837, or thereabouts. He must have come 
early in the thirties. 

The next who came was Dr. Converse Green, 
now of Alfred. He came early in the forties and 
remained until about their close. He bought the 
house built by Clark Stillman. It was a wearing 
life to travel over rough roads in all kinds of 
weather and often in the night, and the remun- 
eration was not sufficient to induce one to re- 
main long, until the country was pretty well 
settled and the roads greatly improved. 

In 1819 Dr. R. P. Stevens came and practiced 



74- HISTORY OF CERES. 

here four or five 3 r ears. He was from New York, 
and it was a little singular that a man of his ed- 
ucation and abilities should stay so far from the 
eit3 r . Years after he left Ceres he was engaged 
by Agassiz to accompany him in his botanical 
and geological researches in South America. 

Dr. Mosher had established himself here before 
Dr. Stevens left, and remained for fourteen or 
fifteen years. For several years he kept the 
Oswayo House, which he found brought in more 
money than the practice of medicine: 

Dr. C. D. Thompson came in the latter part of 
the fifties and stayed four or five 3'ears, and in 
1861 Dr. J. P. Boothe came and sta\-ed thirty 
3-ears, when he removed to Olean. He had an 
extensive and lucrative practice. 

In 1868 Dr. Babcock bought the place where 
F. M. Van Wormer now lives and lived there 
several 3 r ears. Dr. I. S. Hamilton was with him 
a 3^ear or more, but they both left for more 
promising fields of labor. 

A number of physicians came and went, but in 
1878 Dr. H. A. Place came, fresh from his med- 
ical course, and remains unto the present, hav- 
ing secured an extensive and desirable practice. 

Dr. 0. E. Burdick has recently begun to prac- 
tice, there generalK' being more calls than can be 
met by one pli3 T sician. Hard as the work has 
been, those who have persevered in it have made 
a good eompetenc3 r . 

Dr. T. C. Ledvard bought and built here in 
1853 the beautiful home for some years occupied 
by Mrs. I. S. Hamilton. He devoted his attention 
mosth r to dental work, and not finding suffi- 
cient to employ him here, nor in the vicinity, he 
made extensive journe3 r s and often was success- 
ful in finding work abundant and highly remun- 
erative, but he made one journey too many and 



HISTORY OF CERES. 75 

lost his life in Central America in the fall of 
1870, as did also his brother-in-law, Robert Bell, 
who had accompanied him, being also a dentist. 
In his travels Dr. Ledyard had been in the habit 
of going without weapons, but at the time of 
his death he was well armed. Not being sus- 
picious they were taken unawares and both cut 
down almost simultaneously. 

Of Dr. Enoch Maxson it should be mentioned 
that he was a very kind man. One instance of 
his kindness should not be passed without 
record. A poor motherless boy, of about four- 
teen, had epileptic fits, and often suffered much 
from injuries received while having them. His 
father lived in a little shanty not far from the 
creek and was clearing a follow on the north 
part of what was then known as the William 
Bell farm. In one of his fits, when alone, he fell 
into an open lire and was terribly burned. B\ r 
walking some, and being carried by his father, 
he reached Dr. Maxson's, where he was kindly 
received and eared for during the short time he 
lived — between two and three weeks. 

Drs. Smith and Mead were for many years the 
principal physicians in Olean, and the ones sent 
for when there was anything serious the matter 
here. Somewhere in the thirties Dr. Truman 
established himself in Bolivar and was some- 
times called upon, as he was nearer. In later 
years Dr. Whitney of Olean had considerable 
practice here. 

Dr. Green furnishes some items of his experi- 
ence while at Ceres which I gladly give. He says 
that his ride extended eighteen or twenty miles 
in some directions, which we can readily under- 
stand was up the Oswayo, and its tributaries as 
far as settled, and up Bell's Run and over to An- 



76 HISTORY OF CERES. 

nin Creek. Some of the roads were mostly log 
roads and some mere bridle paths. When de- 
tained overnight in some of those pioneer houses 
he would lie down on the rough hewn floor, or even 
on the ground, with his pill bags for his pillow, 
and sleep. He could sleep on his horse, if the low 
branches of some tree did not lash or whisk him 
off. One time when sleeping in his cutter he was 
awakened by finding himself in the snow, with 
robes and cutter on top. Once when called in 
time of high water down the creek he went as 
far as his horse could carry him; he was met by 
a man in a boat or canoe who carried him to his 
destination. Another time when the horse was 
nearly swimming coming to a high bank and 
trying to get upon dry ground its feet loosened 
so much of the earth that both horse and rider 
were precipitated into the almost ice-cold water. 
The}- succeeded in getting out, but the pill-bags 
floated away. Though his clothes were frozen 
when he reached home no serious after effects fol- 
lowed, so hardy did this outdoor life make those 
who endured it. One day in coming down 
King's Run in a heavy rainstorm, he met a 
man with a loaded team who was stopped and 
unable to proceed. While stopping to help the 
man out of his trouble there came a blinding 
flash of lightning, followed almost instantly by 
a terrible clap of thunder that almost stunned 
him. When he rode on he came in a few rods 
to a great tree that had stood by the road, com- 
pletely shattered and the road strewn with .the 
fragments. He would have been about under 
that tree if he had not stopped to help one in 
need out of trouble. Many of the people where 
he went were too poor to even pay for medicine, 
much less for prescriptions or visits, but he takes 
pleasure in remembering that he did not refuse 



HISTORY OF CERES. 77 

to go when called for, even if he did not expect 
any remuneration. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

As early as 1873 J. J. Barker began publishing 
a small paper, "The Ceres News." I think he 
continued it for several 3 r ears. It was small and 
was not well supported. 

In 1886 J. P. Herriek came to Ceres and began 
publishing a paper, which with changes in name 
and form of paper, but still under the same 
editorship, has continued until the present. It is 
now, and has been for some 3^ears, an eight page 
paper, and is published as well as edited by 
J. P. Herriek. He has also, for a number of 
years, published a paper at Bolivar, the "Boli- 
var Breeze," the only paper there. "Nothing 
succeeds like success," and Mr. Herriek now 
holds a good place among the editors of the 
state. The "Ceres Mail" for the past year has 
greath' improved in the tone of its literature. 
As it is the onh r paper taken in many families, 
this is a most desirable feature, making it more 
than a mere newspaper and advertising medium, 
but an educator of good morals. There should 
be as much commendation for what is left out 
as for what is put in. While eager for news, all 
scandalous and ridiculous stories are rejected as 
well as most of the objeetional from his many 
exchanges. 

When Mr. Herriek moved to Ceres he brought 
his mother, brothers and one sister with him. 
They rented and moved about for a few years 
when he bought V. C. Smith's house and lot. 
He enlarged and improved the house materially 
and has a pleasant home for his mother and her 
family, and for himself, when his business will 
admit of his being there, but for a number of 



78 HISTORY OF CERES. 

« 

years he has kept up a second home at Bolivar, 
where his sister Anna presides, one of the broth- 
ers remaining there all the time, and where he 
spends a part of each week. 

THE CIVIL WAR. 

Ceres and vicinity contributed a liberal num- 
ber of soldiers during the war. Some of them 
sleep in southern graves, some in our own ceme- 
tery, but the greater number returned and en- 
gaged in the quiet pursuits of peace. 

Among those who died in the service and who 
descended from the earliest settlers, were Horatio 
Bell; two sons of Thomas Bee; John Benson son of 
Potter Benson, and grandson of Mary Gilbert; 
Winfield S. Peabody, son of Charles Peabody 
and grandson of Jacob Young. Of the sons 
of later settlers was Byron Phelps, son Isaac 
Phelps; and of still later settlers, Lloyd Holley, 
son of Nathan Holley; William P. Carner, son of 
Hiram Carner; Julius Call, son of B. F. Call; 
Ezra Tillson, son of Thomas Tillson; Brice Kin- 
ney, son of Captain Levi Kinney; Hero Bloom, 
a Hollander; and Charles Millison, an Irishman. 
There were also two Clynes, father and son, 
who both died in southern prisons. 

Major General Thomas Kane came here the 
next week after Fort Sumter was fired upon to 
obtain volunteers for a regiment he was form- 
ing, and which took the name of Bucktail from 
the emblem they wore. It was one of the 
very first regiments formed, and did credit to 
itself and its distinguished leader. The hard 
service through which it passed seriously thin- 
ned its ranks, but there are still a goodly num- 
ber who proudly- claim that they belonged to 
the first formed Bucktail regiment. 

A branch of the Woman's Christian Commis- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 79 

sion, auxiliary to that at Buffalo, was organized 
at Ceres in the summer of 1864. Its object was 
to furnish comforts for sick and suffering sol- 
diers. It held weekly meetings and was active 
until the elose of the war. The parent society 
at Buffalo sent to this and other of its auxil- 
iaries, large quantities of underclothes for the 
soldiers, ready cut, which they made and re- 
turned. They prepared lint and bandages and 
made comfortables, besides preparing cordials, 
fruits, pickles and whatever would prove accept- 
able to the sick in the hospitals. 

During the winter they sent Elder S. D. Morris 
as a delegate to minister to the comfort and 
encouragement of the soldiers in whatever way 
he best could. He was gone six weeks. After 
his return he came and gave an account of 
his work at a public meeting held in the church. 
He had ministered to the wounded after a 
battle and had also nursed the sick in hos- 
pital, and had preached whenever he could. We 
who knew him did not doubt but that he 
had been a comfort to many a weary and 
homesick boy, for had not one of his own 
sons been in the army and come home and died, 
and every other soldier was to him like a son. 
Ceres Auxiliary paid his expenses. 

This society did not do all that was done here 
for the soldiers during the war, but it was the 
only organization for their comfort; many 
had previously contributed through other soci- 
eties, particularly those of Portville and Genesee. 

There was much counterfeiting through the 
country, especially before the war. The large 
forests, especially those on Pine Creek, afford- 
ing almost inaccessible hiding places for cul- 
prits from the officers of the law. Occasionally 
arrests were made, and at one time two men, 



80 HISTORY OF CERES. 

who had been staying about Ceres for some 
time were taken away in irons, and I believe 
had to serve short sentenees in prison. 

A circumstance that did more than anything 
else to put down counterfeiting was that a man 
who had belonged to an extensive gang was be- 
ing tried, and being sure of conviction said he 
would give information to some one that could 
bring some of the gang to trial. The postmas- 
ter at Ceres, then John King, was sent for, but 
owing to the slowness of the mails and of 
traveling, when he arrived at the place of the 
trial the man had already been sentenced to a 
long term of years in Auburn, so that his testi- 
raony could convict no one, but he told Mr. 
King who the principal persons were that were 
concerned in the business and where their tools 
were kept, and much that would have led to 
their detection and arrest if they had gone on 
with their nefarious business. 

A gang of counterfeiters were arrested not far 
from Coudersport, about the close of the war. 

Mrs. Morse, who was formerly Mrs. John 
Smith, said that the carpenter who finished their 
house was a counterfeiter, and it was discovered 
afterwards that he had counterfeited consider- 
able money while there. He kept his tools for 
counterfeiting in with those for wood- work and 
he was not readily detected. He did beautiful 
wood-work. In the family sitting room was a 
fireplace that was nicely finished up; it would be 
considered as elaborately ornamental at the 
present time. There was also a bedsink, a com- 
mon arrangement in those days, off the sitting 
room. This had an arch in front and was of 
similar workmanship to that of the fireplace. 

The first house that John Smith built was of 
hewn logs, then he put on this nicely framed 



HISTORY OF CERES. 81 

front, and later, Mr. Leonard, while owning it, 
put on a larger front. 

The first regular store was kept by John Smith 
in a building about where the Grand Central 
hotel stood, or a little north of it. Francis 
King, and later John King, had kept some of the 
most necessary things, which they had sold as a 
matter of accommodation to the settlers about 
them, rather than of profit to themselves. How 
early John Smith opened his store I do not 
know,' but from what I can learn I conclude 
earlv in the twenties. John Danforth was either 
a clerk or a partner with him for a time. 

A man by the name of Wheel ock, from Rich- 
burg or vicinity, kept a store for awhile. The 
building was small and was near the spot where 
Henry Rose's store stood. 

John Smith died in June, 1840, and V. P. Car- 
ter bought his store and kept it for a time, but 
after his marrige in 1842, removed to Richburg. 

Nelson Peabody and Russel Cooper kept a 
grocery in Cooper's house for a number of years. 
3 Joseph Morse and his sons, Charles and Jo- 
seph, came to Ceres in 1842. They opened a 
store between where the old red tavern stood 
and the place where 0. P. Coon's store now 
stands. As I remember, the south side of the 
store was four or five feet from the ground and 
supported by posts. 

After them Robert Hinds had a store here for 
a short time, and later the Adams brothers, 
Ralph and George, came and opened a store in 
an old building, but soon put up what was 
known as the "large store" until it was burned 
in 1886. They continued in the mercantile bus- 
iness until the sixties. Ralph Adams built the 
large house and barn where Mrs. John Holley 
now lives, and George Adams built the dwelling 



82 HISTORY OF CERES. 

between George Smith's and the large store. I 
think that Joseph Morse, Jr., was a partner for 
a time with the Adamses in their store. 

Christopher Smith built a store on the south 
side of the Oswayo in the early sixties. Before 
this there had been a grocery near where the 
present corner grocery by the bridge now 
stands. This grocery- was for some years kept 
b\ r Charles Peabody, until his death in 1850. 
Simpson & Barber, Ira Lesuer, V. P. Carter, for 
many years, J. B. Gleason, G. N. Perry, 
F. H. Raymond, W. A. Percival, M. F. Riley, 
and for many } r ears the Robarts brothers, 
and still others, haye engaged in mercantile bus- 
iness here. One of the early merchants was Leyi 
Dayis, who kept a general store in the house 
where he lived, which was known as the Henry 
Smith house. 

Ceres has always been a sufferer from the 
frequent emigration of its citizens, but not more 
so than many places in the eastern states. So 
long as the great West promised free home- 
steads, a mild climate, and fertile soil where 
abundant crops could be raised with little toil, 
the tide of emigration was westward, and, in a 
measure, still tends that way, though some of it 
has been diverted southward since the war. 

The war of 1812 was a heavy tax upon the 
country ever3 r where, and in this wilderness it 
was hard to bear any extra burdens. The war 
brought, too, a fear of the Indians, not known 
before, but which proved groundless. Just after 
the close of the war came the cold season of 
1816, the frosts destroying all the crops planted. 
People were driven to the woods for game, 
which could not have been abundant or the 
Indians of Canadea, in Allegany county, not far 
north, would not have been in a starving con- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 83 

dition, as stated in Turner's Pioneer History of 
Phelp's and Graham's purchase. The fish in the 
streams, and herbs and roots, helped many to 
eke out a scanty subsistence. One man, who 
was afterwards prominent in the county, used 
to tell of having lived on "boiled nettles for 
three weeks." Nettles were abundant and were 
much used for "Teens and also as a cure for 
ague, which was more or less common through 
the country, but, as a steady diet, could not 
have done more than to keep off starvation. 

This notable season was followed by more 
productive ones, and the tide of emigration from 
the eastern states to the West, which begun 
before the war, was now greatly augmented. 
Much of it came through Olean (then Hamilton, 
but later Olean Point) and made a ready market 
for everything that could be raised on the farms. 
Later this emigration made a market for the 
pine which was at first only a burden to the 
settlers who wished to engage in farming. 
When the New York and Erie canal was com- 
pleted the tide of travel to Olean, which had 
previously been diminishing, ceased so far that 
formany years there was much business depress- 
ion away from the streams, where lumber could 
be sent in rafts to a market. 

Among the early settlers who left Ceres were 
John C. Brevost, (Bravo), and John Watson 
and wife. They were educated, intelligent per- 
sons who must have added much to the society of 
the isolated little settlement. In 1815 the Craw- 
fords went. In the biographical sketch pub- 
lished of John Crawford, it is stated that he 
was born in Lycoming county, but all of 
McKean county was then a part of Lycoming 
county. I think, from what I had heard him 
say of his early days, that he was born in Ceres. 



\j 



84 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Their house stood on the southwest of King's 
Corners, a little south of the road and near a 
spring. In his visits to Ceres he always carried 
away some memento of the old place to his 
home. 

In later years, those prominent who left our 
village were Paul Crandall, William Stillman, Dr. 
Maxson, Paul and Barton Edwards, Dr. Green, 
and many others. Afterwards, members of the 
King, Bell, Smith, Young and Easty families. Still 
later, the Ledyard, Gillett, Riley, Boothe, and 
many others who were here for but a short time. 
The Manns, who had been here for a num- 
ber of years, more or less, were a serious 
loss. They had all left before 1846, I think. 
These who left, with those who were removed 
by death, caused a constant change in the small 
society here. 

Jacob Young was a man of much enterprise, 
but, though hard working and industrious, not 
as successful in monej- making as some of his 
neighbors. He had, however, enough to supply 
all needed comforts for his old age. The last 
twent}- or more } r ears of his life he was an in- 
valid, slowly dying with consumption. 

His oldest daughter married Charles Peabody, 
in 1844. He died in 1851, leaving her with three 
small children. She made great efforts to sup- 
port herself and them, and in the course of two 
3 r ears had built the house where Airs. E. C. Smith 
now lives, but, overworking, she died of con- 
sumption in 1857. The oldest son, Winfield S., 
went into the army when eighteen, and died 
from the effects of the first day's march, being of 
but slight constitution. Mary, the only daugh- 
ter, married Oscar W. Hamilton. They have 
lived many years in Olean, and have three nice 
daughters. The other son, Lucien, lives at Rix- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 85 

ford, and has a nice family, consisting of a wife 
and six children. 

Amos Young, the oldest of Jacob Young's fam- 
ily, early had to take his father's place in caring 
for the welfare of the family. He wished to en ter 
the ministry of the Methodist church, and did 
preach for several years in Kansas. He was a 
successful evangelist. Leaving Ceres in 1855 he 
was never here for but a few months at a time 
afterward. He had for many years been a prom- 
inent member of the church, and after he left, as 
many others had left, it seemed for a time that 
the church must go down. He married, in 1864, 
a voting lady from Jasper, N. Y., who only lived 
a few months; several years after he married 
Mrs. Evaline Frank, of Great Valley, N. Y. He 
died of consumption in 1877, but his widow is 
still living at Great Valley, a useful and excellent 
woman. 

The second daughter, Clarissa, married Har- 
vey Tillotson and removed to Corry, where she 
died in 1871. Her husband died some years 
after her, but there are still two sons living. 

Charlotte, the third daughter, married Robert 
Hinds, Jr., and died in 1853, leaving two little 
bovs. These were cared for by their grand- 
mother Hinds, who had lived here for many 
years, and of whom more particular mention 
should have been made, as she and her husband 
were both worthy of kindliest remembrance. 

These boys both grew to manhood and died, 
first the older, then the younger, of consumption, 
the same disease as their father and mother had 
died of before them; thus completely obliterating 
a family, as in the case of William M. Smith. _ 

Levi, "the second son of Jacob Young, married 
LavcrneMattisomand after a few years removed 
to Allegany, where he died, not far from 1880, 



\l 






86 HISTORY OF CERES. 

leaving a wife, son and daughter, who are still 
living. 

The fourth daughter, Eleanor, married William 
K. King, and died in 1858. There are three of 
her children living. The youngest daughter, 
Eliza A., also married William King, some time 
after her sister's death, and died in 1870. She, 
too, has three children living. The Young family, 
of whom not one has been living since Levi's 
death, were noted for their industry, kindness, 
morality and conscientiousness. 

Ceres has suffered much from fires. The first 
was D. and J. Edwards' saw-mill in 1837. 
It was soon built up. The next which I 
remember was that of a small building that 
had formerly been used as a store, but 
which was then occupied as a dwelling, and was 
on the lot now owned by Louis Carrier. It 
was occupied at the time by Harrison Nich- 
ols. The family barely escaped. William 
Weber's house was burned in 1845. For 
many years there was not another fire. In 1854 
a nice little dwelling, where the house of F. H. 
Call and sister now stands, was burned. It was 
occupied by James Lanphere, who was keeping 
a dr3 r -goods store in town at the time. In 1867 
a fire swept the street from the bridge to the 
corner of the street. V. P. Carter had a large 
dwelling where the Grand Central hotel stood 
until recently, and a store between the house and 
bridge. It took both, as well as several smaller 
buildings. Gilbert N. Perry was then occupying 
Carter's store. This fire was a heavy loss to the 
place. 

The drug store of 0. P. Coon was burned in 
1886, and the dwelling house on the corner, 
south of the bridge, in 1882. In 1887 a destruc- 
tive fire destroved the house and store of H. A. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 87 

Rose, "the large store" owned by V. P. Carter, 
the millinery store, the large store on the corner, 
then owned by W. A. I'ereival and Frank 
Wright, with the harness shop of C. A. Warner, 
and the shoe shop and post office of B. H. Call, 
stopping before it reached the hotel. 

In 1890, F. M. Van Wormer's saw-mill, grist- 
mill, and other buildings connected with them, 
were burned. 

In 1891, the Oswavo house, the opera house, 
a dwelling- occupied by A. Kimball, the barns 
and other buildings connected with the hotel, 
together with the store of Mrs. C. H. Smith, 
then occupied by the Robarts Brothers, the 
printing office of J. P. Herrick, the drug store of 
G. W. Haekett, a shoe shop and business office 
owned by J. B. Gleason, were all burned. As 
but two buildings — a blacksmith shop and a 
small office — have been put up since the fire, that 
street has a desolate look. 

The house of John Edwards was burned in 
1877, only a short time after his death. 

In the "spring of 1895, F. M. Van Wormer's 
planing mill was burned, but was soon rebuilt. 
In August, of the same \ r ear Coon's drug store 
burned. As it was a two-story building it was 
with much difficulty that other buildings were 
kept from burning. In the following October, 
the Grand Central hotel, Robarts' store, Fred 
Call's store, C. A. Warner's and F. H. Ray- 
mond's were all burned. Two families were 
burned out; also Dr. Boothe's office. It seemed 
that the fire might have been prevented spread- 
ing from the hotel but for a large billiard saloon 
just back of Robarts' and the Call and War- 
ner stores. Ceres was almost wiped out of 
existence. The lumber being nearly all manu- 
factured, there will be less business here than 



88 HISTORY OF CERES. 

formerly and people will not be ready to build 
up again, so the place will be serioush^ and per- 
manently injured by them. 

Annin Creek and Bell's Run should be men- 
tioned in connection with Ceres, as it was their 
outlet into the older settled portions of the 
country. 

Elder Evans made the first settlement on 
Annin Creek, and for many years it was called 
Evan's Settlement. It was so remote from other 
settlements, and the roads so bad, that it was of 
very slow growth. It was more readily accessi- 
ble from the Allegan y river through Turtle 
Point than from Ceres, as there was a high hill 
between the head of King's Run and Annin 
Creek. 

Elder Evans was a First-day Baptist minister, 
and gathered a church around him, of which he 
was pastor. He occasionally preached at Ceres. 

Among the first settlers, several miles up Bell's 
Run, were the Vandemarks. They had sold a 
good farm on the Genesee flats and had come to 
this wilderness hoping to find relief for a griev- 
ously afflicted daughter. As land was cheap, 
others gradually followed them, but as the roads 
were almost impassable the greater part of the 
year, they were sadly isolated, and were mostly 
destitute of schools and church privileges for 
man}- years. Now there are three school dis- 
tricts and one church. There are many worthy 
citizens, and all along "the roon"are many good 
buildings and well-improved and well-stocked 
farms. 

Elder Herrick, a minister of the church of the 
United Brethren, held a series of meetings there 
in 1868, or near that time, which resulted in the 
conversion of a large number of the inhabitants, 
and a great improvement in their moral tone. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 



89 



and since that time there has been preaching 
there everv sabbath, by one or more ministers of 
different denominations. The roads are as good 
as in most sections of the country . The hills 
were heavily wooded with hemlock, which is be- 
ing rapidly worked up, so that soon none of it 
will be left. 

Among the nearest settlers on the Allegany 
river was John Morris, and farther up, Renssel- 
aer Wright, and one or more of the Carpenters. 
From the scarcity of settlers they learned to re- 
gard all within a day's journey as neighbors; 
those who were but a few miles away were near 
neighbors, and there was much friendly feeling 
among them. 

Here the noted revivalist among the Baptists, 
Elder Knapp, first began his preaching. 

Elder Dexter S. Morris was a son of John Mor- 
ris. John Morris was from Philadelphia. Rens- 
selaer Wright, as well as Morris, was an educa- 
ted man, for the times. 

Asahel Wright, of King's Run, of whom men- 
tion has been niade, had three daughters, the old- 
est of whom was a poetess. She wrote much, but 
never published but one volume— partly prose 
and partly poetrv. She was a fine speaker, and 
was employed in 1853 by the New York State 
Woman's Temperance Association to lecture for 
them. She also taught for many years, but died 
in 1888. She had removed to Kansas. His 
second daughter devoted the greater part of 
her life to temperance work. She was for 
many vears G. W. Secretary of the Good 
Templars of Pennsylvania, with her head- 
quarters at Lancaster, Pa. Her home is now in 
Coudersport, Pa. The youngest daughter still 
lives on King's Run. 



90 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Another from the same vicinity-, who has dis- 
tinguished herself, is Mrs. Mary E. Lease, of 
Wichita, Kansas. She was a resident of King's 
Run until she was a young woman, when she 
went to Kansas as a teacher, and is now the 
prominent, as well as very popular lecturer for 
the People's part\ r . 

In 1845-6 the Irish began to settle in the 
southwest part of Ceres township, and now 
make a large part of the population of the town. 
They have been industrious and enterprising and 
have cleared the heavily wooded land, and 
put up good dwellings and farm buildings as 
needed, and keep up with their Yankee neighbors 
in thrift and enterprise, though when they came 
they were very poor, as many of the early set- 
tlers left Ireland in the years of the famine. 
There were several families there from early in 
the forties, and among them two families of 
Protestants, the Rorks and Roundtrees; but 
after a little they removed elsewhere. 

Henry Chevalier, a Swiss, came to America in 
1883. He spent a winter at John King's, learn- 
ing English and teaching French. In 1835, he 
married L\ T dia Clendenon, a sister of Mrs. King, 
and bought the place where James King had 
made a beginning. There was considerable 
cleared land and a good orchard started. Asa- 
hel Wright, who had married Abigail Clendenon, 
another of Mrs. King's sisters, lived on or near 
the same place. After staying there several 
3'ears the\ r both sold out and moved up King's 
Run, more than three miles into dense woods, 
where they built near each other and made 
themselves comfortable homes, proving, as 
others have, that farming, though not making 
a person rich as soon as lumbering and the hotel 
business, and perhaps some other things, would, 



HISTORY OF CERES. 91 

when faithfully followed, bring a comfortable 
competence for one's old age. 

Mr. Chevalier survived all the others of the 
original settlers on King's Run, as well as at 
Ceres, dying January 15, 1892, being over 
ninety years of age. He left one daughter, Mar- 
ion, who had been his most faithful care-taker, 
after his wife's death, fourteen years before. 

The following is a short obituary published in 
the "McKean Miner": 

Editor Miner: Henry Chevalier died at Ceres, 
Pa., January 15th, 1892. Thus closes a long, 
eventful life. He was born in the village of Cor- 
cellis, Switzerland, September 11th, 1801, and 
was of a long-lived, vigorous race. His father 
was noted all the country round for his great 
physical strength as well as for honesty and 
integrity. These characteristics the son inher- 
ited to a marked degree. 

Henry's mother died when he was three 3 r ears 
old, his father marrying again not long after; 
he was brought up mostly by his stepmother. 
B\- diligence, and with the aid of his father, he 
acquired a good education. About the age of 
fifteen years he entered the Swiss army as a 
musician. At that time Napoleon I. had con- 
quered and over-run Switzerland, and it, with 
the Swiss army, became tributary to France. 
Henry was in the great battle of Leipsic, under 
Napoleon, when he was wounded in the ankle 
by a Prussian bullet. At the battle of Leipsic, 
Napoleon was overthrown and sent to the 
island ol Elba, and Louis XVIII. was established 
on the throne of France. Then Switzerland 
became an ally of England, Germany and 
Holland. 

Upon Napoleon's return to France for his 
"reign of 100 days," Louis XVIII. relinquished 



92 HISTORY OF CERES. 

the throne and fled from France. Soon after the 
great and decisive battle of Waterloo was 
fought and won by the allied armies of England, 
Germany, Holland and Switzerland. In that 
battle Mr. Chevalier fought against Napoleon 
with the Swiss regiment to which he belonged. 
After the expiration of his service in the Swiss 
army, he finished his education and was em- 
ployed to teach French, in a seminary of high 
grade, in Amsterdam. 

He came to this country in 1833, in the 
interest of a company who wished to obtain a 
location for silk culture, but found that the mul- 
berry tree would not flourish in this locality. 
The first winter he was here he devoted his time 
to the study of English and in teaching French. 
In 1835, he was married to Lydia Clendenon, 
who, with her parents and another sister, had 
been employed by the Society of Friends of Phil- 
adelphia as missionary teachers among the 
Indians on the Allegany reservation. Mr. Chev- 
alier finally settled on a tract of wild land on 
King's Run, in Ceres township, about three miles 
south of John King's, now William K. King's, 
farm. Here he cleared up and improved the fine 
farm on which he lived until he died. With his 
own strong arms he hewed out of the wilderness 
a home where he enjoyed the comforts of life. 
Though a true gentleman, one who would be 
honored in cultured societ}-, he was very plain in 
his tastes and detested the shams of the present 
day. He was somewhat isolated from society, 
yet he found genial companions in his family, 
and great enjoyment in his books and papers. 
He was a historian of ability. In his long life 
he had seen much history made and great 
changes in the governments of the world. 

In 1862, he returned to Europe and was gone 




HISTORY OF CERES. 93 

nearly a year. When lie came back he was very 
discontented and longed for his native land. In 
1S71, he again visited the old country, and after 
returning from that visit he was contented, 
although he always loved and spoke affection- 
ately of the land of his nativity. In this last 
visit he traveled extensively through England, 
France, Holland, Italy and Switzerland, and 
could speak several different languages fluently. 

[e was a strong Protestant and very earnest in 
opposition to slavery, and he lived to see the 
Jesuits expelled from many European countries, 
and slavery abolished in America. 

He was a member of the Calvanistic church of 
Switzerland, and died as he had lived, in the 
faith of the gospel. He was generous to a fault, 
and never turned a hungry person from his door. 
He was honest, brave and true, and all who 
knew him would instinctively say, "God bless 
an honest man." J. P. Boothe. 

Olean, N. Y., March 21, 1892. 

Mrs. Chevalier was an excellent woman, who 
did much to promote intelligence and good prin- 
ciples. She, as others of her family and friends, 
was a very strong abolitionist and would not 
use anything the product of slave labor. After 
slavery was abolished, there was, of course, no 
more trouble in that way. They, with John 
King, sent to a free-labor store in Philadelphia 
for their sugar and cotton goods, for many 
years. The maple sugar manufactured here, of 
course, had not the brand of slavery upon it, so 
that was principally used. They where earnest 
advocates for temperance. 

In 1850, Rachel and Sarah Clendenon moved 
to King's Run to spend their old age near their 
sister, Airs. Chevalier. Rachel died in 1856, but 



94 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Sarah lived on until 1879, and was past ninety- 
three. They kept house for their brother-in-law, 
Asahel Wright, for many years. They were 
women of good education, and had, by industry 
and energy^ earned enough to have a compe- 
tence in their old age, but they had been unfor- 
tunate in investing it, as women generally are, 
and so had to practice the closest economy and 
self-denial. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 95 



CHAPTER III. 

AI^ILD ANIMALS were very numerous here in 
"" the early settlement, but there were few 
birds. Ravens were common then, but have 
long been extinct. There were large flocks of 
crossbills, a bird rarely seen since those early 
times. Pigeons came in large flocks, both fall 
and spring, until within a few years, when the\ r 
seem to have been exterminated or driven away. 
Wild geese went over in great numbers, spring 
and fall, and their peculiar cry was a familiar 
sound and caused an eager looking for the flock 
— always in the shape of a broad-based triangle 
with the leader at the center. They seldom 
alighted unless bewildered by a storm, when 
they were killed in large numbers. 

Wolves went in packs and were ver\- destruct- 
ive. Sheep could not be kept from them, except 
by putting them into covered pens, at night. 
These pens were built of logs and not "chinked," 
that the sheep might have air, and those lying 
near the walls were often bitten through the 
spaces between the logs. Frequently, when there 
were large packs about, fires were built to 
frighten them off. Horns were often blown, too, 
for the same purpose, as they are a cowardly 
animal. As late as the fore part of the forties, I 
remember hearing wolves howl fearfully in the 
early evening, as well as later in the night, and 
often children would be seen lying down and 
holding their ears close to the ground, as they 
could in this way hear them at a great distance. 
They were more troublesome in the winter than 
in summer. 



96 HISTORY OF CERES. 

In the winter of 1838, Daniel Karr, who lived 
on what is known as the "Andrus farm," had 
eleven sheep killed in one night, about his barn 
not far from his house. One large horned ram 
had defended himself for a long time, in the cor- 
ner of a rail fence, as the tracks plainly showed, 
before he was overpowered. They seldom at- 
tacked persons, unless there was an especial 
cause for it. They were of the large \ r ellow 
variety. 

Panthers were the most ferocious wild animals 
of the country. Their scream was said to be like 
that of a woman in mortal agony. They were 
known to kill children sometimes, and there is 
an instance of an Indian having been killed by 
one in the southern part of McKean county, and 
another was very nearly killed near Smethport. 
In the latter instance the Indian had flung him- 
self on the ground, face down, to sleep at night. 
The panther, which had probably been following 
him for some distance, sprung upon his back ; 
but he reached and got his knife and stabbed it 
to death. He was too badly hurt to go for help 
and laid down to die beside the beast, but was 
found next da\- and taken to the home of the 
nearest settler, where he was kindly cared for, 
and recovered after a few weeks. The Indians, 
in times of scarcity, ate their meat. John King 
believed that he at one time had eaten of it. It 
was the winter after his mother's death, when 
their supplies had failed, owing to the drain 
upon them of the work-people, especially the one 
where the poor little baby, that had been so 
early left motherless, was nursed, insisting that 
she must have abundance of food, or she could 
not take care of that, in addition to her own 
baby, so these poor children — for John was not 
eighteen — gave up their provisions until they 



HISTORY OF CKRES. 97 

would have starved, if it had not been for the 
kindness of the Indians. John King went to the 
Indian camp one night to get some meat, but 
they had none to let him have but a part of an 
animal, which he believed was a panther; but 
their need was sueh that there was not much 
fastidiousness about what the\ r ate. 

Mrs. Svlvanus Russell, one of the earliest set- 
tlers of Clean (1805 or 1806), used often to tell 
of a panther coming into her chamber, where 
she was sleeping, after some fresh meat that had 
been hung there for safe keeping. Their house 
was just built, and, before there were either 
doors or windows, her husband had to go away 
to get supplies, and remained from home over 
night. She had a bov of about fourteen come 
and stay over night for company and protection. 
They both slept up stairs for greater security, 
there being no partitions stronger than cur- 
tains. In the night they were awakened 
by hearing a scrambling on the ladder which 
was outside of the house. Some animal came 
into the room, jumped up and pulled down the 
meat and carried it away, They both kept 
verj- still until it was gone. Tracks in the light 
snow the next morning showed plainly that 
their visitor of the night before had been a 
panther. Before the next night there was some 
better protection from such nocturnal visitants. 

There was a bounty given to all who killed 
any of the destructive animals, and it was suffi- 
ciently large to attract both the Indians and the 
white hunters, so that wild animals of all kinds 
were rapidly diminished. 

Bears, too, were troublesome, as they would 
frequently climb into pig pens and take the pigs. 
They would sometimes carry off calves a year 



98 HISTORY OF CERES. 

old, and have been known to attack those two 
years old. The\ T also killed sheep and lambs. 

Foxes were abundant, and were destructive to 
poultry and } r oung lambs. 

Deer abounded, and were killed in large num- 
bers, affording meat when none other was to be 
had ; but it was a sad thing to destroy them so 
ruthlessly. It was generally done by chasing 
them down with men and dogs. They were in- 
nocent animals, the only harm they were ever 
charged with being that they sometimes ate 
down the wheat when young and tender. The 
fawns were pretty, delicate little creatures, that 
were readily tamed, but they were never safe 
from the attacks of hounds that had been 
trained to hunt. 

There were some elk in McKean county, but 
never many in this section. Elk horns have been 
found occasionally in the northern part of the 
county even within a few years, but they had 
probably been here for a long time. Elk county, 
which joins McKean on the south, was named 
from the abundance of elk found there. 

Wild cats frequently committed some depreda- 
tions, and a few lynx have been killed in this 
vicinit}-, but there are no traces left of them at 
present. 

The shriek of the locomotive has longbanished 
the howl of the wolf and the cry of the panther 
from most parts of our land, though the unerr- 
ing rifle of many of our pioneer hunters had 
done much towards thinning the numbers of all 
our wild beasts. 

Occasionally a bald eagle was found nesting in 
some secluded place, but they, like the ravens, 
have retired to regions remote from civilization. 
A few blue heron are occasionally seen, but 



HISTORY OF CERES. 99 

hawks, owls and crows, arc nearly all the large 
birds now found. 

The pigeons should be mentioned more partic- 
ularly. They came in great flocks, shutting off 
the sunlight like a dark cloud while they were 
passing. In 1868 they nested on Bell's Run, 
where the forest was still thick. Hunters, both 
white men and Indians, came from far and near, 
many of them camping out for many days at a 
time. They cut down a large amount of timber 
that they might get the squabs, for which there 
was a great demand. Since that time the pigeons 
have avoided this section, and there have been 
no pigeon roosts for a large circuit of country. 
The pigeons were a beautiful sight when feeding 
in a large held where grain had been raised — 
their light, slate-colored feathers, tinged beauti- 
fully about the neck with a silvery sheen, that 
changed in the sunlight to lovely shades of violet 
as brilliant as those of tame doves. 

HISTORY OF TEMPERANCE WORK. 

When the first temperance meetings were held 
I can not learn, but early in the thirties. Mrs. 
Warner says that her mother was the first 
woman that signed a temperance pledge here. 
I think that I remember there being temperance 
meetings in 1839 — the first winter after the 
church was dedicated. In 1842, Elder Griswold, 
who was pastor of the Seventh-Day Baptist 
Church of Little Genesee, and Elder Leander 
Scott, who had formerly been a pastor there, 
held a series of temperance meetings. One of the 
landlords signed the pledge and moved out of 
the hotel. Nearly all of the young people signed 
the pledge, and were enthusiastic in attending 
the meetings and singing the temperance songs 
thev had learned while there. There was still 



100 HISTORY OF CERES. 

one or two places licensed to sell, for "travelers 
must have liquors if they wish them"; neither 
was there any disgrace connected with the busi- 
ness, and there was much money made by keep- 
ing "entertainment for man and beast." In the 
spring there would be great crowds of men to 
"run out the creek" the rafts that had been built 
during the winter, and when they were all down 
to the river, to go on the larger fleets to Warren, 
Pittsburg and Cincinnati. The wages paid were 
large, and almost every one that could "pull an 
oar" was eager to go. To the young it afforded 
almost the onlv chance of seems: something: of 
the world, and to do it, too, without expense, 
as they would be making instead of spending. 

As there was often much exposure to rain, 
snow and cold, and frequently an involuntary 
bath in the cold water, there must be whiskey 
to counteract all the ill effects, im acinar v as well 
as real, and there was no other antidote known; 
so there was large profits for the landlords; but 
it is worthy of notice, that while they were mak- 
ing money so fast, few ever became rich. The 
curse of God has ever rested upon the business, 
whether men understood it or not, and the cries 
of the widows and orphans it has made has been 
a fearful protest against it. 

The crowds of drunken raftsmen every spring 
was a dreadful thing; not that every one drank, 
or was drunken, but people drank then that did 
not drink at other times, because they felt that 
they must, or sacrifice their health. 

In 1855 there was a large lodge of Good Tem- 
plars organized here, which was kept up for a 
time. Many had long been convinced of the 
evils of intemperance. Then came the civil war, 
which was a fearful set-back. The Government 
supplied intoxicants and drunkenness was on a 



HISTORY OF CERES. 101 

rapid increase. Many young men who went out 
to defend their country * came back worse slaves 
than those whom they had helped to liberate. 
The Bacchanalian orgies held for a long time on 
the porch of the "large store" were often fearful. 
There were those who were eager to do some- 
thing to put a stop to them, but for several 
years it seemed impossible. Most of our promi- 
nent men in and about the village favored the 
liquor business, and signed the petitions for 
license, and it is not much cause for wonder that 
they should, when the government was making 
it a matter of revenue, and the more licenses the 
greater the revenue. Remonstrances were circu- 
fated and petitions were sent to the county 
courts, praying them not to grant licenses, but 
thev were not apparently regarded in the least, 
until in 1868 a remonstrance was circulated 
with better success than ever before, and no 
license was granted to the only landlord who 
applied at the time, though probably but one 
hotel was open. The Oswayo House was then 
kept by Nathan Palmer. The thing was done so 
quickly that there was little chance for opposi- 
tion. Women had begun the work of circulating 
remonstrances and had done what they could, 
when three young men took up the work, and 
by one day's diligent effort in the remote parts 
of the town, brought up the list to so large a 
number that the court readily refused any 
license. This was a very signal and encouraging 
victory for temperance people, and from that 
time there have been but few licenses granted. 
The three young men who worked so earnestly 
should be remembered. Two of them have 
passed from earth— Henry Ledyard and Sobieski 
Cooper— but R. R. Bell is as true a temperance 
man as then. ,But for the work of these three 



102 HISTORY OF CERES. 

young men all that others had done would prob- 
ably have proved a failure. 

There was a lodge of Good Templars again 
organized in 1868. This was well kept up for 
several years, but the expenses proved too much 
and it was finally disbanded. For several years 
they paid $100 per annum for rent. A number 
of times since then temperance societies have 
been organized, but have soon died out, with the 
exception of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union, which was organized in 1884, and which 
still holds on its way, though it has never been 
a large societ}-. It being founded on the Gospel 
has alone enabled it to abide. It is good to 
work for the elevation of humanity in any way, 
and it is really Christian work, but when it is 
undertaken for Christ's sake then the workers 
are not dismayed at discouragements that 
would otherwise overcome them, because they 
do not war against the evil they combat in their 
own strength, but in the name of God. 

From 1868 to 1890 the temperance people cir- 
culated remonstrances before every winter court 
and nearh r ever\^ summer court. Failing to cir- 
culate as the\ r should before the June court, be- 
cause they did not suppose it necessary, had 
once or twice allowed a license to be granted, 
and once there was one granted to F. A. Chap- 
man in the winter early in the eighties. 

The circulating of remonstrances through the 
village, to Myrtle, and to the Potter county line, 
and up Bell's Run and King's Run, and to Bar- 
ber Town and McRae Brook, became very bur- 
densome, especially so when it was necessary to 
obtain a majority of the voters in the township; 
but when in 1888 Judge Olmstead decided that 
women might sign the remonstrances, and that 
their names, though kept separate, should count 



HISTORY OF CERES. 103 

the same as men's, it was almost an assured fact 
that the temperance people would win. 

The Hon. A. G. Olmstead deserves, and has, 
the gratitude of all temperance people; for in 
1889 he said that he knew the temperance senti- 
ment of the people of Ceres township so well 
that it would be unnecessary for them to bring 
any more remonstrances before him, that he 
should not grant any more licenses to any one 
in Ceres. Still there is liquor sold in out of the 
way places, and probably there will be so long 
as it can be so readily obtained as now, both 
from Bolivar and Olean ; and there are men who 
are too lazy to work, and who are ready to do 
anything for money, even to "making merchan- 
dise of the souls and bodies of men." There have 
been frequent prosecutions in the past years, and 
some convictions; but often, because the officers 
of the law were in sympathy with the liquor sell- 
ers, it was useless to attempt to bring them to 
justice. Often the worst men have been elected 
to office, because they would shield the violators 
of the law. We are glad to have a better state of 
affairs now, and yet it is hard to bring offenders 
to justice. Everywhere there is more or less 
trouble in enforcing the laws against liquor sell- 
ing. The maliciousness of the rum power is fear- 
ful, and while it does not hesitate in many in- 
stances to destroy the property, nor even to take 
the lives of those who oppose it, people are in- 
timidated from attempting to enforce the laws. 

Ceres, being a center for large lumbering inter- 
ests in the past, has been most unfortunately 
situated. The village being in two states, it did 
not much matter if they could not get a license 
in one state, they could get it in the other, and 
the distance between hotels was so small that it 
was but a slight drawback. 



104 HISTORY OF CERES. 

It has been the boast of the town of Genesee 
that they had never had a license, and it was a 
matter of which the\ T might well be proud ; but 
they still could not prevent the illegal sale. One 
of the contrivances of one of the landlords to 
avoid paying for a license, was to have a small 
building attached to the "old, red tavern," so 
that it could only be entered from the hotel, 
which was all in Pennsylvania, but the addition 
was all in New York ; so that liquor was sold in 
Genesee, though they had to go into Pennsyl- 
vania to get it. 

In connection with the remonstrances, it 
should have been mentioned that we had to 
raise money each year to pay a lawyer for pre- 
senting them at court, seldom less than ten dol- 
lars, and in 1888 we paid twenty-five dollars. 
In the early years of this work, W. K. King as- 
sisted very materially in securing the best law- 
yers to do this. 

In 1880, or near that year, the "old red tav- 
ern" was moved down near the cemetery. It 
took some time and labor. A lady writing about 
it, said, "If all the tears that have been shed as 
a result of the drunkenness caused there, could 
be put into a stream, it would float the old 
building to its place without any trouble, and if 
all the money that has been spent over its bar 
could be invested in school buildings and 
churches, we would have the finest in the 
country." 

The oldest house in this part of the country is 
the kitchen attached to John King's house. It 
was built for a land office in 1806 or 1807, but 
was never used for that purpose. I can find no 
record of it, but give the date as I heard it many 
years ago. John King's house was built in 1819. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 105 

The land upon which it is built being wet from 
the draining of the hill has caused the sills to de- 
cay, which is allowing it, it part, to settle into 
the cellar. It is a curiosity to those who have 
never seen other than the light frames that are 
put up at the present time. Two large chimneys 
went up through the building, one from the cel- 
lar; the one in the west end of the building 
having four fireplaces connected with it, 
and that on the east but two. It was 
built in English style, having a large hall 
running through it. The plates, or large beams, 
in the garret, are nearly a foot in diameter. It 
was built when pine lumber was not very valua- 
ble, so it is all of clear stuff pine. It was origi- 
nally sealed throughout, but some of it was 
lathed and plastered about twent\ r 3'ears after it 
was built. It is situated near where the first 
house built b} r Francis King formerh- stood. I 
think this building was finished up with hand- 
wrought nails, but am quite sure that the 
kitchen was so built. 

The tenant hotise was built of materials in 
great part taken from one of the buildings on 
the hill. Connected with the King house was a 
large garden, the greater part of which was de- 
voted to flowering plants and shrubs, which did 
much to make it the most beautiful place in all 
the country about. There are still some traces 
of the shrubbery left. The south side of the 
house was covered with a large grape vine, that 
added much to the beauty of the large and 
otherwise plain building. Mrs. King spent much 
time among her flowers, and was always ready 
to give a portion of her plants to any one who 
would care for them; so that almost every house 
had a few flowers, and to this day there are a 
good many through the country that were prop- 



106 HISTORY OF CERES. 

agated from hers. In those days there were no 
seed stores nor catalogues of plants, so that new 
plants were only obtained by purchase from 
some garden, or by exchange from one another. 

Mrs. King was a literary woman and had a 
supply of books and papers that was very unus- 
ual in those days, but she and her husband were 
read}- to lend, so that it was almost as advan- 
tageous as if there had been another circulating 
library in the place; more so in some ways, as it 
brought in another kind of reading matter. 
They had much anti-slavery reading, which help- 
ed largeh r in giving a strong anti-slavery tone 
to the place. There were anti-slavery lectures, 
occasionally, by some of the best speakers. 
Charles and Cyrus Burleigh both lectured here 
in those early da} T s, and others. The Kings kept 
a station on the "underground railway," and 
occasionally some distressed fugitive found a 
refuge there. In the winter of 1847-8, one who 
had escaped pursuit all the way from New 
Orleans, spent the winter in their kitchen, not 
being able to bear the cold to work out of doors. 
In 1842, a company of refugees from Maryland 
came, who took up and settled on lands just 
over the hill south from the King place, where 
they remained in peace and security, being indus- 
trious and frugal and eager to secure comforta- 
ble homes, until the Fugitive Slave Law fright- 
ened them into selling out and removing to 
Canada. 

John S. Mann came to Ceres in 1836. He 
taught the district school on the Pennsylvania 
side of the line, one term, then went to Olean and 
taught for a time. After a trip to Texas for the 
benefit of his health, where he engaged in teach- 
ing, he returned and studied law with Ellis, 
Esq., of Coudersport, and after being admitted 



HISTORY OF CERES. 107 

to the bar married Mary W., the oldest daugh- 
ter of John King, and removed to Coudersport. 
Joseph Mann came to Ceres in 1838, and re- 
mained until 184-5, when he removed to Millport 
and after many years to Coudersport. He mar- 
ried Eloisa A. Button, of Portage, N. Y., who 
had taught a number of terms at Ceres on the 
Pennsylvania side of the line. Joseph Mann 
taught several winters in ths same school, but 
was employed in surveying during the summers. 
In 184-4-5 John Mann taught the same school. 
He with his sons Joseph and John S., had kept a 
private seminary at Mannington, Pa., and so 
were well prepared to teach more than an ordi- 
nary country school, and they gave an impulse 
towards obtaining a higher education that was 
invaluable to the young people of that time. 
The other sons of John Mann, Lewis andParvin, 
were here more or less. 

John S. Mann was a very active temperance 
worker. He had done much to build up a strong 
temperance sentiment in his countv. He was a 
member of the legislature for a number of terms, 
and while a member of that boclv was largely 
instrumental in having the Potter County Pro- 
hibitory Law passed. There was an attempt 
made by liquor men to have it repealed in 1894. 
John S. Mann died in 1878, and they seemed to 
think it could be done without much opposition. 
But Airs. Mann and others had petitions to the 
Governor circulated throughout the county, but 
the bill was killed in the committee and the 
Governor never saw it, which proves that the 
law holds a strong place in the hearts of the 
best citizens. 

John King and his wife had been noted for 
their temperance as well as their anti-slavery 
principles, and it required some force of moral 



108 HISTORY OF CERES. 

character to make a stand against the almost 
universal habit of treating and being treated. It 
is true, that sometime in the thirties, he built a 
goodly-sized cider mill on his farm and manufac- 
tured some cider for a number of 3'ears, but be- 
ing convinced that it was not promoting tem- 
perance, he closed it up. In the days of slavery 
they had shown the same earnest principle by 
not using dry goods or groceries that were the 
product of slave labor, though it cost much 
more to purchase free-labor goods, and many 
times they were not as nice as the others. 

Daniel Carr, whose wife was Ann Lull, must 
have come here late in the twenties, or early in 
the thirties. About 1853 he sold to E. N. Andrus 
and removed to Illinois. Mr. Carr did much 
hard work in clearing land and in building. He 
first built a house of hewed logs, to which lie put 
a framed addition after a time. He also built 
the barn which still stands; and I think the old 
log house is still there, but clapboarded and cov- 
ered both outside and inside, and is a warm, 
strong house. Mr. Andrus improved both the 
farm and the house and lived there until his 
death in 1888. Mrs. Andrus then sold and re- 
moved to Bolivar, to La Grange Andrus.' She 
is still living, and is, and has been, a useful and 
respected w 0111 an, whose removal from Ceres 
was much regretted. 

Edward Steenrod built a small house, in the 
earU- thirties, on the lot now owned by Charles 
Gleason, but the water frequently coming 
into the house when there were floods, he 
built and moved into a house where Mr. Pea- 
body's barn now stands. Later he removed to 
Friendship, and Jeremiah Deitz, who had a 
blacksmith shop near, lived in the house for sev- 
eral years. Arnestus Deitz, his brother, who 



HISTORY OF CERES. 109 

lived with him for a time, married Elizabeth 
Smith, second daughter of Harry Smith. They 
lived on the Phelp'splace for a time, but removed 
to Ohio, and later to Wisconsin, where Mr. Deitz 
died, after a long and lingering illness, leaving 
his wife and six children. She, being a woman of 
much energy, succeeded in keeping her family 
together and bringing them up to be intelligent 
and useful citizens. Mrs. Deitz is still living, 
though broken in health and advanced in years, 
honored and beloved by her children, and the 
many friends she found wherever she has lived. 

When Mrs. Deitz was here last, in '92-'93, she 
bought and put up a tablet for her grandfather 
and grandmother, and an uncle who had died 
when a young man. It cost over $60, and she 
had but little help in meeting the bills, but was 
glad to have something to mark the graves of 
those whom she had known and loved as a 
child, and wdiose memory she had always cher- 
ished, and wdio for their prominence in the early 
settlement should be remembered. 

Isaac Phelps must have come here quite early 
in the thirties. His wife was Laura, daughter 
of Dr. Rue. She was an estimable woman, and 
I think one of the first church members. She 
must have died before 1850. For a second wife 
he married Amarilla Maxson, and moved away 
from Ceres. Later, his second wife dying, he 
married a Miss Lull, grand-daughter of the 
widow Lull, and removed to Wisconsin. His 
only son went into the army, during the late 
war and died there. A headstone among those 
of his family, keeps him in remembrance here. 

There was, for many years, a tannery a little 
ways back of where the Grand Central hotel 
recently stood. It was built partly above, and 



110 HISTORY OF CERES. 

partly below the bank. The tipper part was 
used as a dwelling and the tannery was below. 
It was built and worked by William Stillman, 
who was a brother of Clark Stillman, who built 
on the corner just across the bridge. He re- 
moved to Wisconsin, not far from 184-0. He 
sold out to George Merritt, who kept up work 
in it and lived in the upper part for a good 
many years, when he, too, sold and removed to 
Wisconsin, when it stood idle for a time, but 
was finally entirely removed. 

Daniel Edwards came to Ceres in 1828. He 
built a log shanty, near the foot of the hill, on 
the main road going east from Ceres. Here, 
with his wife and one little child, he lived in the 
summer of 1828. His wife was Clarissa Gilford, 
of Newport, Rhode Island, who was ready to go 
with him any where, and to brave the hardships 
of a new country. Daniel was also a native of 
Rhode Island. I think they left Rhode Island 
the year before and came as far as Pittsford, 
near Rochester, on the N. Y. & E. canal, and the 
next summer to Ceres. In the summer of 1828, 
Daniel put up a small framed house, near where 
Mr. Case now lives, and moved into it in the 
early winter. Here he lived, dispensing the most 
generous hospitaliy, until 1853, when he built 
and moved into the house now occupied by Air. 
George Case, and lived there until 1876. 
John Edwards, brother of Daniel, came in 
November of the same year. He went 
back in a year or more, and married Harriet 
Gilford, a sister of his brother Daniel's wife. 
He and Daniel formed a partnership that con- 
tinued to 1875. The next summer after they 
came, they began preparations for a saw-mill, 
and, as the\- had no team, they made the needed 
excavation for their millpond and removed the 



HISTORY OF CERES. Ill 

dirt with a wheelbarrow. In 1830 they suc- 
ceeded in getting their mill built. 

John and Daniel, with their families, all lived 
in the one small house for a time, but in 1837, or 
about that time, they built a cabinet shop, the 
second story of which they fitted up for a dwell- 
ing, where John moved with his family and 
lived there for some years, when he put up 
a large house across the street from the cab- 
inet shop, where he lived until his death, in 
1877, at the age of 76. Soon after his death 
this house was burned, and his widow lived 
with Airs. Case, her daughter, until her death. 

George Case now owns the land, and the 
buildings that still remain, that were formerly 
D. and J. Edwards'. F. M. Van Wormer bought 
the timber on the land, and the great pines, that 
would be curiosities now, have been cut down 
and worked up into lumber to the last one. In 
some places in the vicinit\', not only have the 
pine and hemlock been cleared out, but the hard- 
wood and the second growth of pine. Mr. Case 
has cleared up much of the land from which the 
timber had been removed and put the farm in 
good shape, but the active little hamlet, shut in 
from observation, excepting that the highway 
from Ceres to Friendship and the intermediate 
places passed through it, has dwindled to one 
large dwelling with its outbuildings, where 
there was formerly a saw-mill, siding and 
shingle-mills, cabinet shop, blacksmith shop, a 
large flouring mill, two large dwellings and two 
smaller ones for work-people, with the numer- 
ous barns and other outbuildings. Nearly every- 
thing is gone that showed the energy and 
activity of Daniel and John Edwards. 

Daniel Edwards was an unusually intelligent 
and public-spirited man, and his brother John, 



112 HISTORY OF CERES. 

though not originating so many improvements, 
readily seconded them in carrying them out. 
The}- had much to do with the building of the 
first schoolhouse at Ceres on the New York side 
of the line, which stood where Livingstone 
White's house now stands, or very near it. 
Together they looked up the best teachers the 
countiw afforded. There being a school of high 
grade at Alfred, and they in frequent communi- 
cation with its Principal and others, they could 
readily do this. 

The Edwardses were strong temperance men 
and did much towards preventing licenses in 
Genesee township, and the people of that town- 
ship can still say, "No licenses were ever granted 
in the town of Genesee." It is true that liquor 
has been sold there, much of it during the oil ex- 
citement, but never legally. If people were as 
intent on being honest and doing right as they 
are to cheat and circumvent the law we would 
soon see the dawning of a millenium. 

The Edwardses were strong anti-slavery men. 
Their father and mother came after they had 
been here a few } T ears, and spent their last years 
with them. Their youngest brother, Barton, 
was here for a number of years, but went to Wis- 
consin, where he is still living. Paul, another 
brother, came only a few years after Daniel and 
John came, and bought a part of what is now 
the "Carter farm," a little way out of the vil- 
lage, and an old building still standing was a 
shoe-shop which he built. He, too, went to 
Wisconsin, where both he and his wife died — he 
many years ago, and she quite recently. They 
went west in 1844. 

After the firm of D. and J. Edwards was dis- 
solved, they each sold his share of the property, 
John selling for $17,000 and Daniel for $18,500. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 



113 



Daniel had previously been induced to become 
security for some persons who did not meet their 
obligations, and he had to pay for them. He 
lost heavily, too, through unfortunate invest- 
ments of his son in the lumber woods of Michi- 
gan, and his property rapidly disappeared, so 
that but for friends rallying around him, he 
would not have been able to procure comforts 
for himself and wife, and even with all the help 
received he was sorely cramped and worked 
when he was not able to do so. He died at the 
age of eighty, of putrid erysipelas. It is sad that 
a man who had been so industrious, temperate 
and economical, and withal so generous and 
kind, should come to poverty. His wife, a 
woman greatlv beloved, lived on until March, 
18S7, when she died at the age of eighty-one, a 
lovelv, Christian woman. 

John Edwards' wife has but recently died, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1894. She was a woman of great 
energy and activity, until age and poor health 
laid their weight "upon her. Still she traveled 
much, and attended the World's Fair, which was 
onlv the summer before her death, and came 
home alone, after her daughter had seen her 
safelv on the train. She had fitted herself for the 
practice of medicine, especially for women and 
children, and was successful as a physician. She 
had a wonderful memory, and it was interesting 
to hear her tell of her journeyings and of her ex- 
periences in pioneering, and the articles which 
she wrote for the Friendship Register will be 
prized for their historical value. 

The Edwardses were all Seventh Day Baptists. 
Daniel and John in their early manhood were con- 
verted and joined the Seventh Day Baptist 
Church, and were very earnest and enthusiastic, 
walking ten miles to church and back; but 



114 HISTORY OF CERES. 

twenty miles was a good deal of walking for 
men that worked early and late, so some- 
times the} r did not go, and when some 
of the old members took them to task about it, 
Daniel thought them so unjust that he withdrew 
and never more united with them. He tried to 
be a Universalist and a Spiritualist, but became 
disgusted with both. He was really a better 
man than he professed to be, or that one might 
think him to be while talking in some of his per- 
verse moods. 

Another matter that must not be omitted 
while speaking of the Edwardses, and that is 
their care of the sick. They were all good 
nurses. They had learned much by reading and 
study, perhaps more in the school of experience, 
and were better prepared than some of the early 
ph\-sieians to treat most cases of acute disease. 
After losing one little girl from the effects of cal- 
omel, Daniel Edwards began the study of the 
Thomsonian practice, then just coming into 
notice, and later homeopathy, but finally adopt- 
ed eclectic methods. Both Daniel and John, with 
their wives, watched with the sick, cared for the 
d^'ing, and assisted in the burial of the dead, for 
miles around them, and continued to do so for 
many years, as long, indeed, as they were able. 

One of my pleasant memories of Daniel Ed- 
wards is that of very stormy mornings he used 
to drive to the schoolhouse with his own, and 
brother's children and others in his neighbor- 
hood, and then drive down the road as far as 
John Bell's and get the children there and all the 
others on the way back to the schoolhouse. 

Daniel Edwards had seven children that lived 
to maturity. Hannah, the oldest of these 
married Peter Van Slyke of Wyoming county, 
but whose home for manv Years was in 



HISTORY OF CERES. 115 

Hamilton, Missouri, and where she died 
in 1887, leaving two sons and two 
daughters. — Jane, the second daughter, 
married Frank White, who went with William 
Edwards, Daniel's older son, to Kansas during 
the Border War, and there both died of fever. 
Jane and her son and daughter lived at her 
father's most of the time ever after, and cared 
for her father in his frequent sickness until his 
death, and then took care of her mother as long 
as she lived. She had two children and three 
grand-children, and now has her home with her 
daughter. — Kate, the third daughter, married 
Israel Beagle. She lives with her family in the 
state of Nebraska. — Daniel R., the only son liv- 
ing, has a wife and two children. They live in 
Saginaw, Mich. 

John had three children that lived 
to maturity. — Abby married Charles Witter, 
of Nile ; he died in Andersonville prison ; 
Amanda, the wife of George Case, and 
Mary, the wife of William Rich, of Florida. 
Abby has three sons and two daughters living, 
her oldest son being Elder E. A. Witter, of Mil- 
ton, Wisconsin. Emmet, the second son, lives in 
Alfred and has a wife and eight children. The 
older daughter is Mrs. Randolph, of Plainfield; 
the second is married and lives in Rhode Island, 
and the youngest son is also living in Rhode 
Island, but is not married. I should not have 
omitted to mention that Daniel Edwards lost 
two daughters both young women by fever in 
the summer of 1857. They were lovely girls. 

John C. Danforth came here as a clerk for John 
Smith early in the thirties. He married M^arv 
Lord, of Friendship, in 1836. They had four 
children. They kept the "old red hotel," on the 
north side of the creek, for many years, at differ- 



116 HISTORY OF CERES. 

ent times. It was no eas\- task to provide food 
and lodging for the great crowd of raftsmen 
that came every spring, but Mrs. Danforth was 
a remarkably hard working woman, and withal 
efficient, or she could not have done it. Air. 
Danforth will long be remembered as a fine 
singer. He frequently taught a singing school 
in the church, and while thus helping himself also 
helped others to improve. After the war their 
son helped them to buy the house built by Ed- 
ward Ren wick, and here they spent their declin- 
ing years. Mr. Danforth died in 1885, and his 
wife in 1886. The son has recently exchanged 
this house and lot for a farm at Myrtle and re- 
moved there. The oldest daughter, Mrs. Electa 
Wheeler, wife of Frank Wheeler of Eldred, has 
recently died. She was an excellent, Christian 
woman. She leaves her husband, three sons and 
three daughters to mourn her. — The second 
daughter, Mary married Mr. Scott, of Friend- 
ship, and died in 1864, leaving one child. The 
youngest daughter married Wright White and 
lives in Nebraska. 

The Coopers — Ira, Cyrus and Russell — came 
first as early as 1833, I think, or earlier. After 
a time their father, mother, and brothers Theron 
and Silas came, but they did not remain many 
years, lout settled on Annin Creek, where Theron 
and Silas still live. In 1836, Russell built the 
house where Leonard White now lives. He lived 
there until his death in 1866. His wife died there 
in 1869. They left two children, a son and a 
daughter, who in turn married and had families; 
but they both died many years ago, the son 
leaving three children and the daughter two. 

Ira built the house near Mr. White, and now 
owned by him, but soon after sold out and 
moved to Bell's Run, where he became a success- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 117 

ful farmer and lived many years. His widow 
married George Grow, and only recently died, at 
nearly ninety years of age. She leaves two 
daughters, the older living on Bell's Run and 
now the widow of Rev. Herrick; the younger has 
long lived in Oregon. 

Cyrus sold out to Dedrick and bought land on 
King's Run, where he lived ten years or more, 
when he removed to the village and after bought 
and built near where Dr. Place lives; but he 
again sold out and removed to Myrtle, where 
his second wife died in 1882. He lived until 
1888, when he died at the age of eight\'-four, 
leaving three children, who still survive him — 
Evaline, Adelaide and Oscar. Evaline has for 
many years been a resident of Plainfield, N. J., 
the wife of J. C. Dyer. Oscar has long been a 
resident of South Dakota; and Ruth Adelaide is 
the second wife of C. A. Warner, of Ceres. Mr. 
Cooper's first wife died while he was a resident 
of King's Run. 

James Ward was a colored man who came 
here from Montrose, or its vicinity, about 1840, 
and remained until his death in 1853. He 
married a colored woman from his native place, 
who survived him two or three years and died 
of consumption, leaving three children, who were 
cared for by her mother, and after awhile taken 
to Montrose. Mr. Ward took up land and 
cleared it, and built a substantial log house. 
The farm was afterward sold, and has now long 
been known as the Abram Hammond place. 
They were a worthy couple and received much 
kindness in their long sicknesses. During Mr. 
Ward's last sickness Mrs. Cyrus Cooper took 
Mrs. Ward to her house and cared for her 
through serious sickness. Her youngest child 
was born there. As Mrs. Cooper was always a 



118 HISTORY OF CERES. 

feeble woman and had much care, this must 
have required some sacrifice on her part, but she 
did it without apparently thinking that she had 
done more than her duty. 

John Estey came to Ceres with his family in 
1830, having come to Millgrove from the central 
part of New York in 1829. He bought out 
a Mr. Skinner, who lived near where Palermo 
Lackey lives. He built a log house near where 
Mr. Lackey's house now stands. He had a wife 
and three children who lived to maturity. Mary 
Jane, the older daughter, being now the widow 
of James Wright, long of Honeoye. The other 
married Americus Wood, son of Lewis Wood, of 
Sharon. He died and she married again but 
died many 3 r ears ago. Nelson, the only son, is, 
with his family, living in Oregon. John Estey 
and his wife had a home, for many years before 
they died, with Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Estey was 
a devoted christian, and did much, in its earlier 
histor\ r , to build up the church here. 

Samuel Eastey, brother of John, came to Ceres 
in 1837. He purchased the "old red tavern," 
but soon built the Oswayo House, where he 
lived for many years. His wife died in 1848, 
and not long after he married and moved to 
Olean, and later, with his two sons, he went to 
Minnesota where he died after a few years. His 
youngest son, Leonard, is still living. Mr. Eas- 
tey's first wife was a sister of his brother John's 
wife, and was an excellent woman. The only 
daughter married George Smith, and is still 
living here. She has two children living, Lucy, 
who married Burdette Almy, and has one 
daughter, and Valentine, who married Man- 
dana Whitney of Franklinville, N. Y. and lives 
in Olean. Geo. Smith died in 1888 and 
much of the business activitv of the 



HISTORY OF CERES. 119 

place ceased with him, as the large saw- 
mill he had long run was abandoned and all the 
employees were discharged. The last rafts were 
run in 1888, the spring after his death. 

Not long after Samuel Eastey came to Ceres, 
several of his wife's brothers came: Nelson, 
Charles, Thomas and Selah Peabody. Their 
mother also came, and, after several years, died 
here. 

Nelson Peabody spent his long life here, dying 
in 1894, at the age of eighty-one. He was first 
commissioned justice of the peace in 1849, and 
held the office untill 1861, when he was elected 
associate judge, which office he held for some 
3'ears, when he was again elected justice and 
held the office until within several years of his 
death. His first wife died in 1864, and he after- 
wards married the widow, Eliza Richardson, of 
Haskell. His first wife had one son who died in 
1870, and they also adopted Adelaide Priest 
second daughter of Josiah Priest when 
she was three years old. She married 
Henry Rose and they were residents of Ceres 
much of the time, until within a few years the\- 
have removed to Port Allegany. Mrs. Peabody 
is still living on the old place in feeble health, 
and at advanced age. 

Charles Peabody, another of the brothers, 
taught school one or more terms when he first 
came, then kept a grocery for many years. 

Selah only remained a short time, and has 
recently died. 

Thomas, the oldest of the brothers, 
moved to Oswayo in 1829, and was one of the 
first two settlers of that region. He came to 
Ceres and remained a few years. He was a 
hardworking, industrious man with a large ' 
family, and went west early in the forties and 



120 HISTORY OF CERES. 

settled near Washburn, Illinois, where he suc- 
ceeded in bringing up his children well, and 
where he lived to a good old age, only dying 
within a few years. — His oldest son married the 
older daughter of Ira Cooper, and died of small- 
pox in 1870, leaving several children who have 
done him honor. The younger son, Nelson, first 
married a daughter of Nathan Holley, but she 
dying within a few years, he returned and mar- 
ried Lucy Emily Smith, next to the young- 
est of Henry Smith's children by his second 
wife. Nelson Peabody, with his wife, 
have made several visits to their friends here, 
and some of his children have accompanied him 
several times. He has a fine family and is a 
prosperous man and highly esteemed. 

Joseph Morse, Sr., and two sons, Joseph, Jr. 
and Charles, came to Ceres early in the forties. 
They at first had a store nearly opposite of 
where the Grand Central Hotel stood until the 
recent fire. After a time the father married Lucy 
Smith, widow of John Smith. Charles was mar- 
ried when they came. In 1846 Joseph, Jr. mar- 
ried Elizabeth, younger daughter of John King. 
She died in less than a year, leaving a young 
babe, which lived to man's estate — W. K. Morse. 
He married and lived here many years, but in 
1884 moved with his family, consisting of his 
wife and four children, to Federalsburg, Alary- 
land, where he died in less than two years. His 
wife, being an intelligent, energetic woman, is 
bringing up her children so that they will be 
honored and useful citizens. 

Joseph Morse, Jr., in 1851 married a second 
time. His wife was Ruth Perkins, of Carbon- 
dale. After living here for several years they re- 
moved to Brooklyn, N. Y., where they still live. 



HISTORY OF CERES. 



121 



They have one son and two daughters still liv- 
ing, one son besides William K., having died. 

Charles Morse, after living here several years, 
removed to Ohio. Joseph Morse, Sr., died m 
1870, at the age of seventy-seven. He was for 
some' years one of the associate judges of 
McKean, and several other counties. 

W. J. Hornblower came to Ceres from New 
York city in the winter, or early spring of 1847. 
His son, William E., had come to Ceres a num- 
ber of years before, and had settled at that time 
at Main Settlement, where his home is at the 
present time. W. J. Hornblower bought the 
place on lower King's Run, still known by his 
name, and built there the summer after he came. 
His family then consisted of his wife and two 
young daughters, the younger still not in her 
teens" The older, became in 1856 the wife of 
G. N. Hackett, and was the mother of Dr. G. W. 
Hackett, of Portville, and of H. N. Hackett, of 
Glenn. She died in 1877. The younger daugh- 
ter of these two, Emily, married Andrew Hay- 
ward, and died several years after, leaving one 
daughter a few weeks old, which was adopted 
by her mother's oldest sister, Mrs. William Lan- 
phere, who with her husband had followed her 
parents to Ceres. This child, long since grown 
to womanhood, is now the wife of W. Barry, of 
Texas. Mrs. W. J. Hornblower died in 1862. 
Anna, W. J. Hornblower's oldest daughter, mar- 
ried William Lanphere. He died at Ceres in 1862. 
After some vears she married Mathew Green, of 
Little Genesee, and where she lived many years. 
She died in 1892, while on a visit to her daughter 
in Texas. Mrs. Green was a lovely woman; in- 
deed the whole of W.J. Hornblower's family were 
a valuable addition to the society of Ceres, and 
were sincerelv mourned by all who knew them. 



122 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Palermo Lackey and wife are the last of 
our very old citizens. She is in her ninety-second 
year and he in his ninety-first year. They bought 
the place where John Eastey had made a 
beginning, and had cleared a few acres and put 
up a log house. Mr. Lackey, after a little, put up 
the house where the\- now live, extended the 
clearing and planted an orchard. They have a 
comfortable home, Mr. Lackey and his wife hav- 
ing worked hard that they might have a compe- 
tency for themselves and daughters. They had 
but one son and he went into the army and was 
killed. Mr. Lackey has one daughter still liv- 
ing, his first wife's child, and four daughters, his 
second wife's children, Mrs. John Green late of 
Alabama, Mrs. Rogers Crandall of Genesee, and 
Harriet and Mary who have always remained 
at home, Harriet having been an invalid since 
her girlhood. They are a family greatly beloved 
and respected. Mrs. Lackey retains her facul- 
ties in a wonderful degree, and seems as neces- 
sary to her family as she has in all the years 
that are past. Mr. Lackey, though somewhat 
crippled with rheumatism, did his chores about 
the barn, caring for a horse and cow and other 
things, and did considerable work until laid by 
with parah'sis the past summer. 

MAIN AND BARBER SETTLEMENTS. 

Walter Lackey, a brother of Palermo, lived for 
many years a mile or more west from Ceres, on 
the Olean Road. He died in 1891. He was an 
estimable man, and his wife is much beloved and 
respected. She is near eighty years old. She 
was a daughter of Captain Crandall — his oldest, 
I think. Mrs. Lackey has three daughters and 
one son still living. Her daughters are Airs. 
Peckham, wife of Rev. Allen Peckham, Mrs. Susie 



HISTORY OF CERES. 123 

Ward of Perm Yan, and Miss Angelina Lackey. 
Captain Nathan M. Crandall, Judge Maxson, 

Joseph Crandall, Milton and Sheffield Main, all 
came about 1830, and remained until death 
removed them like shocks of corn fully ripe. 

Mrs. Joseph Crandall was a Main. Miss Julia 
Main accompanied her relatives here, and after 
teaching school awhile, became the wife of Rus- 
sell Cooper, of Ceres. 

Andrew Barber must have come about this 
time. He settled across the creek from Judge 
Maxson. 

William Coon was another prominent citizen 
of Main. He died many \-ears since. His wife is 
still living. 

Barber Settlement is an extension of Main 
Settlement. 

Moses Barber, a brother of Andrew Barber, 
must have come about 1845. He had a large 
family of children, some of whom married and 
settled in the vicinity. Blanchard married Olive 
Hamilton, and is one of the prominent citizens 
of Main. Elmer married a Miss Root of Bol- 
ivar, and moved to Ceres, where he kept the 
Oswavo house for some years, and later, a store; 
but he went west, I think to Michigan, soon 
after the war closed. Franklin, son of Moses, 
married a daughter of Andrew Barber, and is a 
prominent citizen of Barber Settlement. Laura, 
the vounger daughter, married Fred Holmes, 
and is still living, having for years had her home 
with her son-in-law, George Hamilton, on King's 
Run. Noves and Nelson Barber are living in 
Olean. Rowland Barber, of Barber Settlement, 
is a son of Andrew Barber, and one of the most 
prominent citizens there. 

James Brown, of Barber Settlement, is another 



124 HISTORY OF CERES. 

citizen who is among the first of the little 
hamlet. 

Enoch Maxson, a son of Judge Maxson, who 
married Andrew Barber's oldest daughter, is 
one of the oldest settlers there. He has been, like 
all his family, a hard working, industrious man, 
and has raised a large family of children to 
habits of industry and frugality. 

These early settlers were none of them wealthy, 
and could not procure for their children the best 
advantages of the schools of the country, but it 
is interesting to note with what perseverance 
and energy mam^ of the younger persons of both 
hamlets are acquiring a liberal education. 

Other prominent citizens of Main are Ashle\ r 
Packard, Charles Crandall, James Alain, and, 
for man}' years, William R. Maxson, who sold 
out and moved to Richburg and has recently 
died there. Oliver Langworthy, who married 
Judge Maxson's youngest daughter and settled 
there in 1849, is one of the worthy citizens of 
the place. His sons are married and one living 
near him, the other at Carroll, and his daughter 
at Olean, the wife of Mr. Haight. 

Ashley Packard married Virtue, one of Captain 
Mathew Crandall's daughters. They have one 
son who is a prominent man in Arizona. 

George and Daniel Crandall were prominent 
citizens of the eastern part of Main Settlement. 
Daniel has recenth- gone to live with his daugh- 
ter in Cuba. George is living at an advanced 
age and is feeble. His first wife was a Hamilton; 
his second, Mrs Eliza Mills. 

Nathaniel Walker bought Captain CrandaH's 
farm and lived there many years, dying in 1888. 
His wife has since died. They were excellent 
christian citizens. 

John J. Robarts came to Ceres during the war 



HISTORY OF CERES. 125 

as a clerk for V. P. Carter. After some years he 
engaged in mercantile business for himself, and 
lias been a resident of Ceres, with the exception 
of two or three years, ever since. He first mar- 
ried Ella, second daughter of V. P. Carter. She 
died, after several years, leaving one daughter, 
Grace, who is now a teacher in Massachusetts. 
In the course of two or three years after his first 
wife's death he married Minnie, daughter of 
A. C. and Isabella Hovey. They have four chil- 
dren. In 1887, John and Barney formed a part- 
nership, under the name of Robarts Bros. In 
1884, Barne\- engaged in mercantile business in 
Ceres, and moved here and built the beautiful 
home where they now live. His mother also left 
her home on Bell's Run and came to live with 
them. Henry Robarts came later. After a time 
he bought the Robinson place and nicely fitted it 
up, and has lived there for several years. 

Alexander Martin, of Portage, N. Y., came with 
his family to Ceres in 1839. After several years 
his wife died, leaving him with two children. He 
took up a considerable tract of heavily timbered 
land and built a large sawmill near what is now 
known as Myrtle, but which was long known as 
Martin's Mills. He cleared the pine from the 
hills and valleys near him, and put considerable 
land under cultivation. He kept so many men 
in his employ that the houses built for them 
made a small settlement about his own home. 
He sold out and went with his son to Wisconsin, 
where he bought land and engaged in farming. 
His daughter married Prof. F. A. Allen, then 
principal of Smethport Academy, but at the time 
of his death, in 1880, in charge of a Soldiers' 
Orphan School at Mansfield, Pa., and his wife 
was appointed to take her husband's place and 
superintend it. She was the first woman to 



126 HISTORY OF CERES. 

whom the State of Pennsylvania ever gave an 
appointment. 

Mr. Martin went to Wisconsin in 1859, and 
he and his son were both living as late as 1883. 
Air. Martin was an enterprising business man, 
public-spirited and generous. He was a liberal 
subscriber when the church was built. His chil- 
dren were both graduates of Alfred University. 

Ceres and its near vicinity is a remarkably 
healthy locality, judging from the large number 
of old people that have been among its inhabit- 
ants. Among those first families that came the 
Kings attained to good ages; so did the Bells 
and Smiths. A few years ago it was a matter of 
note that the number of old people on our 
streets was greater in proportion to its popula- 
tion than that of any other town in this part of 
the country; but the}- have passed away now, 
so that scared y an octogenarian is left. We have 
had none that completed a century in their lives, 
but a number have been near it. Mary Bell was 
ninety-two, and her son Thomas far in the nine- 
ties. Sarah Clendenon was ninety-three, Martha 
Bell over ninety-five, Mrs. Lydia Almy nearlv 
ninety-four ; while those who have passed eighty 
have been much more numerous. Henry Cheva- 
lier was another who had passed his ninetieth 
year. 

There never has been any prevailing epidemic 
more serious than measles or whooping cough. 
A case of fever which has lasted for more than a 
few days, has been rare. In the early history of 
the place there were a few cases of fever and 
ague, but none since those early days. 

The epidemic of diphtheria on Bell's Run 
should not be passed over. In the spring of 
1862 it first made its appearance and lasted 
nearh- all summer. It was a new disease, 



HISTORY OF CERES. 127 

and the doctors did not know how 
to treat it. Dr. C. D. Thompson, who had 
been here for a year or two, finally learned 
to manage it much more successfully than any 
one else had. At that time the disease was not 
considered either contagious nor infectious. 
More than thirty were laid in the cemetery at 
Bell's Run that" summer, nearly all children. 
There were but two cases at Ceres that summer, 
and they both recovered, though there were no 
precautions taken to prevent the spread of the 
dread disease. There have been but a few cases 
since at any time. 

The valley of the Oswayo is wider than most 
of the valleys of even the larger streams in these 
hilly sections of country. In places it is nearly 
a mile wide, especially below the village for 
some distance. In other places it is narrower 
and the hills steeper. The north side of the hills 
are said to be more productive than the south 
side. The views through the valleys and from 
the hills in places are very fine. The young 
people of the present time can hardly imagine 
how dense the woods were, before the pine trees 
were removed. The Oswayo was a larger 
stream, before the forests were cut down, than 
it is now, and it kept up a goodly size through 
the summer to what it does now. 

In 1847, a boy nine years old was lost on 
Bell's Run, and though men came to search for 
him from points as remote as Friendship and 
Angelica, and the search was kept up until he 
was found, it was over a week and he was dead, 
had died of starvation, and no wild beast had 
disturbed him. 

One of the amusing freaks of the Indians had 
been to insert a branch of one tree into another, 
grafting it in so perfectly that, at the time I saw 



128 HISTORY OF CERES. 

it, 1870, it was not clear from which tree it 
belonged. It had been done before the place 
was settled. In the spring of 1852, MarySwayne, 
the second daughter of Francis King, who was 
on a visit here from her home in Delaware, 
inquired if the "gallows tree" was still standing, 
and she went to see it, in company with one of 
her nieces. She had not seen it for very nearly 
forty years. Willson Bell, who has been for the 
last forty-five years mostly away from here, and 
had no't seen it in that time, thinks the connect- 
ing beam not more than four of five inches thick, 
when he saw it last, but I think it was double 
that thickness when I saw it, and so others 
describe it. It was nearly parallel and sixteen 
or eighteen feet from the ground. The trees 
connected were elms. I can find no one who 
can give an exact measurement of them. Anson 
Maxson says that in drawing logs many years 
ago, he used to drive between the trees. One, it 
not both of them are gone, so little care has 
there been to preserve objects of interest, and 
it will take but a few years to obliterate all 
traces of the old buildings now standing, except- 
ing the cellars and piles of stones. 

The street along the south bank of the creek, 
known as Water street, is the finest in town, as 
far as residences are concerned. Just a little out 
of the village is Mr. Van Wormer's, and a trifle 
farther is Frank Smith's; then Henry Robarts 1 
west of F. Van Wormer's and the two 
houses put up by Dr. Place to rent. Then 
comes the Doctor's house, which is really 
an ornament to the place. Next on the same 
side of the street is a nice house built by John 
Coon, who removed to El tired several years 
since, but which is occupied by his brother, 0. P. 
Coon; then Mr. Raymond's pleasant home, and 



HISTORY OF CERES. 129 

near that C. B. Robarts' residence, which is per- 
haps the nicest on the street, and adjoining his 
lot is his brother John's home, which is a pleas- 
ant place, though the house has been built for 
some time. On the street opposite Dr. Place's is 
a house built for the accommodation of persons 
using the water of the mineral well there ; and 
the house built for Mrs. Palmer, Mr. Coon's for- 
mer home. The past summer Albert Lanphere 
has built a nice house between the^ latter two 
houses, and has recently moved into it. As it is 
of modem style and nicely built and finished, it 
is an addition to the place that is prized. The 
two houses west, originally built by the Palmers, 
but now owned by 0. P. Coon, are kept up in 
good shape for renting. There is no other house 
on that side of the street but Mrs. E. C. Smith's, 
near the bridge, which has been mentioned. On 
the New York side, Genesee street has a goodly 
number of pleasant residences, and High street 
adds to the size and prosperous appearance of 
the village. There has been improvement in the 
street running south from the bridge. Olean 
street has also improved within a few years. 
Though the growth of the place is small, there is 
still some improvement, but hardly enough to 
counteract the destruction by fires. 

One of the means for social improvement, 
which the young men kept up for many years, 
was a debating society. I do not think that the 
young ladies took any part in it, but they were 
sometimes invited to be present in the later 
years of its existence. 

The young ladies at the same time kept up a 
reading society which they developed into a 
lyeeum, but I find no mention of it after 1844. 
Some of the leading ones in it married— some 
moved awav or went away to teach or attend 



130 HISTORY OF CERES. 

school, and the society was allowed to die. The 
voting people of that time cared for educational 
matters as the}- never have in as large numbers 
since. Their essays and poems which have been 
preserved show much talent. Some of them 
should go into this history. 

As the young people began to marry the 
fashion prevailed of long wedding processions. 
They usually accompanied the newly married on 
their bridal tour and returned with them. This 
tour did not take in the large cities; neither was 
it so far distant but that they could return the 
same evening or in a day or two. Some of the 
wedding gatherings through the forties have 
not been surpassed in these later years. 

A source of pleasure in the earlier years had 
been spelling schools and geography schools, the 
former probably longest retaining the general 
interest. 

Early in the forties and even before, astrono- 
my had become a popular study among the 
young people, and tracing constellations was a 
frequent source of amusement as well as of earn- 
est study. Botany was another study that call- 
ed forth much enthusiasm. 

Frederick Leonard came to Ceres from Rich- 
burg in 1842. He first bought the property long 
known as the "old red hotel." He built a front 
to it and improved it in other ways, but after 
occupying it for several years he bought out 
Willard Taylor, and moved into the house which 
he had occupied, which was quite a way back 
from the road. He very soon after built the 
house at the corner of the road, which he so long 
occupied. Being industrious and energetic he 
did much hard work in clearing up his farm, 
lumbering, etc. His wife was an estimable 
woman, generous, and ready to go among the 



HISTORY OF CERES. 131 

sick, and to do for all who needed kindly aid. 
They had four children, two sons and two 
daughters. The younger son died in 1862, the 
younger daughter in 1881, and the mother in 
1883, all having consumption. The older daugh- 
ter, who was the widow of Horatio Bell, died in 
1889. She left two sons, the older of whom is 
W. W. Bell, of Bradford ; the younger, Edward 
S. Bell, now living with his family on his 
mother's place. The older son of Mr. Leonard, 
Elias, died at his home in Washington, D. C, in 
1892, having two sons— Newton and Harry. 
After Mr. Leonard's wife died he lived with his 
daughter mostly until her death, and then with 
his grandson, E. S. Bell, until Januar\ r , 1895, 
when he, too, passed away, being nearly eighty- 
seven years of age. He was a genial, pleasant 
man, who will long be missed in the community. 
He retained his faculties, with the exception of 
hearing, to the last. He was free from bad hab- 
its, and had been a strong temperance man for 
many years. He was a member of the Presby- 
terian church at Portville. 

TORNADOES AND HURRICANES. 

It is singular that the tornadoes and hurri- 
canes of sixty years ago were more severe than 
of later years. There was then so much more of 
the primeval forest standing that one would 
naturally expect that the winds would never 
have been very severe, but the great amount of 
timber blown down show that they were. Two 
or three miles below Olean, in sight of the N. Y. 
& E. R. R., the timber on some of the hills was 
laid in parallel lines by the wind, more truly 
than a mower lays the grass with a scythe. 
There would not be a tree standing often for 
long distances in the path of the wind. In 1838 



132 HISTORY OF CERES. 

a man was killed by the falling of a tree between 
here and Myrtle, the only death that occurred 
from these storms, though there were many nar- 
row escapes. There were no severe storms after 
that one until the summer of 1851 when a hail 
storm accompanied by wind, took most of the 
glass out of the western windows of many 
houses, and felled some trees. Again there were 
no severe storms for twenty or twenty-five years, 
but within a few 3'ears the wind has done con- 
siderable damage a number of times. It was es- 
pecially destructive at Shongo a few miles away 
from Ceres. 

Benjamin Perkins came to Ceres in 1836. He 
married Polly Palmer a sister of Mrs. Henry 
Smith, the second wife. He bought a farm be- 
yond Henry Smith's, on the same road. He was 
energetic and industrious, and had a good farm 
and a nice home. He died in 1882, at the age of 
eighty-seven, and his wife in 1888. Their only 
daughter, Lurancy, married Reuben Carter, and 
died in 1873. Isaac removed when a young 
man to Marietta, Ohio, where he died in 1884, 
leaving three children. Adelbert is living at 
Shingle House. He married L. P. White's daugh- 
ter, and has one son. 

Mrs. Palmer came to Ceres, from Alfred, in 
1833-4, and died here at an advanced age in 
1885. She was the mother of Mrs. Perkins, 
Mrs. Maxson, Mrs. Henr\ r Smith, Mrs. Nancy 
Cotter, Mrs. William Belcher, Mrs. Sally Robin- 
son, and Avery and Nathan Palmer. None of 
her family are now living, but Nancy. Her home 
has long been in Wisconsin. Mrs. Sally Robin- 
son lived where Henry Robarts now lives. 
She cared for her mother many years, and was a 
very hard working woman. She died of paraly- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 



133 



sis in the year 1885, leaving two sons, Charles 
and Warren. 

The Holler brothers— Nathan, Abner, John, 
William and Barton— came here about 1840. 
They all settled in, or near Myrtle, which was 
long known as Holleyville. When Ralph Adams 
moved to Portage, not long before the war, John 
bought his house and lived there until his death, 
in 1890. His wife and three daughters now 
occupy the house. The father and stepmother 
of the" Hollev brothers came to them and lived 
near them until the father died, in 1865. Mrs. 
Hollev then left her home and lived at John's un- 
til her death, in 1875. 

F. M. Van Wormer is at present, and has been 
for manv Years, our leading business man. He 
came here" in the early sixties, after having been 
for a time in his country's service in the early 
part of the civil war. He formed a partnership 
with Leonard W nite, and they bought the saw 
mill originally built by Cyrus Cooper, but which 
had had other owners. Being men of energy and 
perseverance they were successful in their busi- 
ness, and rapidly increased their means. A few 
year's since the partnership was dissolved, Mr. 
Van Wormer retaining the mill and continuing 
the lumbering business. There was also a large 
flouring mill in connection with the other mill. 
These mills and all buildings connected with 
them were burned in 1890, but soon were rebtiilt 
better than they were before, with the exception 
of the flouring mill. It seemed a pity that this 
latter mill should not have been rebuilt, as there 
is no mill nearer than Shingle House or Portville. 
Mr. Van Wormer bought the place where he now 
lives, of Dr. Babcock, who had not owned it but 
a few years. The house was built by William M. 



134 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Smith, and occupied by him several years, when 
he sold to Dr. Babcock, I think. Mr. Van 
Wormer has built it over and made so many 
changes that it does not seem like the same 
place. Mr. Van Wormer, employing a number 
of men, has built a considerable number of 
houses for them to occupy. As he is a good pay- 
master he has no difficulty in finding willing 
workmen. 

While eminently successful in his business pur- 
suits, sorrow has come to him in the death of 
his youngest daughter, who died when eleven 
years of age, and more recently in the death of 
his only son, Henry, who was about nineteen 
when he passed away. But he has much reason 
to be happy in two daughters who are left. 

Mrs. Van Wormer is the daughter of D. B. 
Brown and his wife, who has recently passed 
away. She has proved herself a dutiful and 
affectionate daughter, through the many years 
she cared for both father and mother, and in her 
care for her father now. 

D. B. Brown and wife, the parents of Mrs. F. 
M. Van Wormer, have lived in Ceres most of the 
time for over thirty years. She passed on to the 
heavenly land last spring. She was an excellent 
Christian woman ; one to whom Christ was 
more than even her beloved church. The follow- 
ing article "in memoriam", was written by Mrs. 
M. W.Mann of Coudersport, and is no undeserv- 
ed eulogy, but much more might be said of her 
earnest piety, and unfailing charity. Her child- 
ren may well arise and call her "Blessed:" 

Mrs. Alice H. Brown. — It was, I think, in the 
year 1845, that she came with her husband and 
four little girls, from Philadelphia to Couders- 
port. Mr. Brown had just received orders as a 



HISTORY OF CERES. 135 

minister from the Presbyterian Home Mission 
Society. In consideration perhaps of the wild 
country and rough roads, a horse had been 
given him; a "missionary horse" that for want 
of any public conveyance, drew the whole family 
from Jersey Shore, Lycoming county, to this 
place. Jack was, perhaps, according to his 
knowledge, as faithful as his master and mis- 
tress, being a very useful helper. 

There was no church building in this place, nor 
in the county, but Mr. Brown preached and 
Mrs. Brown went about among the neighbors, 
al way's bringing words of comfort and trying to 
point the way to the source of all blessing. The 
care of her family and the help she gave to every 
good undertaking in the community required 
more strength than she possessed, but she never 
shrank from any effort for others. There were 
few in this part of the country of their church. 
There were some ministers of other denomi- 
nations and the people gave according to their 
ability and opportunity, but they r were some- 
times too scantily supplied with the necessaries 
of life. But Mrs. Brown never lost heart, "The 
Lord will provide," she said. A young woman 
who was in the house assisting about sewing 
said that sometimes the last food was eaten, but 
always before another meal time, something 
was brought to them. He did provide. 

The coming of two more children in the course 
of a few years made the living more difficult, and 
the building of the church, much of the work be- 
ing done by Mr. Brown himself, and in which 
even the little girls helped — took much time and 
means — but the needs of poor and sick neighbors 
were always met by Mrs. Brown, in spite of her 
own cares and very fragile health. She had love 
and kindness for every one, pity for every 



136 HISTORY OF CERES. 

hungry animal. She was always at meetings 
for any benevolent purpose, always spoke, al- 
ways helped, was one of the little band that 
started the Library and worked whenever she 
could meet with the others. 

By the poor, old and young, by all who were 
in any way desolate and distressed, Mrs. Brown 
was most tenderky loved and reverenced. Her 
pitj T and her sympathy were unbounded. 

Once, in her later days, a gentleman saw a 
tramp going to her house. He hastily closed his 
office and went to her assistance. As he came 
up he saw her giving food with one hand and 
tracts with the other. The gentleman went 
right back. She could fight her own battles 
with her own weapons. I cannot help thinking 
of those who will meet her on the other shore, or 
have already done so, with such love and glad- 
ness and thankfulness." 

Jacob Brock came with his wife to Ceres in 
1853. In 1862 he bought the place where he 
now lives, and made of it a nice home. He is a 
mason by trade. He has four children living — 
two sons and two daughters. The older daugh- 
ter is the wife of L. C. Carrier, and lives here ; the 
other the wife of H. D. Caskey, the editor of the 
Austin Autograph. 

B. F. Call and family came to Ceres in 1857. 
He was a shoemaker, and long kept a shoe shop 
here. He was a worthy and respected citizen. 
He built the house where his son and daughter 
now live. He died in 1886 at the asre of seventv- 
eight, and his wife in 1890. 



&' 



John B. Gleason came to Ceres in 1870. In 
1871 he bought the house on the corner, which 
had been built about 1860, by YYillard Barber, 



HISTORY OF CERES. 137 

who had removed to Olean. Mr. Gleason, in 
addition to a shoe shop and shoe store, has, 
much of the time for many years, kept a grocery 
store, and some of the time a general store. He 
has two sons living, his only daughter, a lovely 
girl, having died in 1881, in her eighteenth year. 

Some changes that have been made in the 
location of the roads, should be mentioned. The 
change has already been noticed in the road 
from Mr. Leonard's to where the road meets 
that going south, and up King's Run, the origi- 
nal name of which stream was Mill Creek. 
Another change in the roads was from the 
bridge over the race near Dr. Place's office. The 
road at first ran so near the creek that there 
were no houses between them. It was placed 
where it is now in the early forties, and 
raised so that it was hoped the water would not 
overflow it. Another change was made in the 
road toward Genesee, and it was placed where 
it is at present in 1847. It formerly went over 
the hill, and near where John Austin's old house 
stands, which accounts for the isolated situation 
of that house. 

Two changes have been made in the road go- 
ing west from the village. It formerly went near 
John Bell's old house, but being on such low 
land that it was overflowed in time of high 
water, it was moved some distance up on the 
hillside, but was afterwards put down to its 
present location, though it could still be greatly 
improved by putting it two or three rods lower. 

C. A. Warner came to Ceres in 1857. He estab- 
lished a harness shop and worked here for two 
or three years, and then tried several other 
places. He married Maggie Fay and returned 
and bought the house where Charles Bell now 



138 HISTORY OF CERES. 

lives. His wife died in 1869, leaving him with 
four small children. He gave the youngest to its 
mother's sister, and hired the other three and 
himself boarded until in 1871 he married his 
present wife, Addie Cooper. After a little he 
bought out E. N. Andrus and moved to that 
place, where he remains unto the' present, having 
greatly improved and enlarged the house. His 
present wife has three children living, the oldest 
being the wife of John Miller, of Rixford. Mr. 
Warner added a grocery to his other business 
about twelve years ago, but has been so true to 
his temperance principles that he has never sold 
tobacco in any form, though there is nothing 
sold except alcoholic liquors that brings so large 
a profit. He has been twice burned out, but by 
diligence and industry has been prospered, so 
that in his quiet way he has been a very helpful 
as well as useful citizen, a good church member, 
and long a superintendent of the Sunday school. 

Nelson Hackett came to Ceres in 1847. He 
bought of Robert King a place which he had 
partially cleared, and had built a temporary 
house. I think that he had also set out an 
orchard. Mr. Hackett cleared much more land, 
put up good buildings and after many years of 
hard work had an excellent farm. He did much 
to improve the roads, both he and Mr. Chevalier, 
so that there was no better roads about this sec- 
tion of country, until mills were put up in 
various places on King's Run to work up the 
hemlock. 

Mr. Hackett married Charlotte Hornblower 
for his first wife. She died in 1877, leaving him 
three children, the youngest of whom died in less 
than a year after the mother. His younger son 
is married and living on the homestead ; the 



HISTORY OF CERES, 139 

other is preparing to be a physician. Mr. Hack- 
ett has made his influence felt for temperance 
throughout the township, and has been ready to 
support churches and schools, and whatever 
was for the advancement of the best interests of 
not onh' his own, but other communities. If any 
one was burned out, or in any way especially 
needing relief or comfort, no one but he was so 
ready to take his team and spend his time in 
securing donations for their relief. In 1878 he 
married, for his second wife, Hannah Bell, 
daughter of John Bell. They still live on the 
farm, but in a new house, and are both intent 
on doing for all who need. 

Potter Benson, and his brother Daniel, came 
to Ceres in 1832. He married Henrietta Gilbert, 
daughter of Robert and Maiw Gilbert. He was 
a farmer and owned a farm about a mile above 
town, where his wife still lives with her youngest 
son. Potter Benson was a good citizen, honor- 
able in all his dealings, and a trufy good man. 
He left four daughters and one son. One son 
had died for his countr\- during the rebellion. 
His oldest daughter is the widow of Justus Rice, 
of Eld red. She has four children living. One of 
her sons was drowned the past winter, and was 
brought to Myrtle, making the fifth generation 
of his mother's people buried there. The second 
daughter is the wife of G. W. Lewis, of Vineland, 
and has eleven children. The third daughter, 
Elizabeth, is the wife of Rowland R. Bell. She 
has eight children; his son, Brice B., has five, 
and the youngest daughter, Harriet, wife of 
Alvah Hall, of Allegany, has three. Few have 
left a larger circle of descendants, and if they 
prove as worth\ r as they now give fair promise 
of being, his name will long be honored through 



140 HISTORY OF CERES. 

them. His wife is now in her eighth-second year 
and shows the infirmities of age. 

THE PLAXK ROAD. 

After the New York and Erie railroad was 
completed to Olean there was much travel from 
Ceres to Olean, and the roads often being very 
bad in the spring and fall of the year, it was 
deemed advisable to have a plank road from 
Ceres village to Olean station. A company was 
formed and incorporated, with the following 
officers: F. S. Martin, president; C. V. B. Barse, 
secretar\ r and treasurer. 

There being much interest in it the building 
progressed rapidly, and it was ready for use as 
early as 1852, in part, I am told ; that is, the 
part from Olean to Portville. For a time it 
yielded moderate dividends to the stockholders, 
but soon the repairs needed took all the receipts 
over and above those paid to the two gate- 
keepers, and early in the sixties the road was 
allowed to go down, and the earth road for a 
time was worse than ever before. A mistake in 
the management of the road had been in allow- 
ing heavily loaded wagons to pass over it for 
the same amount that would be asked for a 
light carriage ; a heavily loaded wagon would 
cut into the planks and wear out more than a 
number of light wagons or carriages could. 

In 1888 Louis Carrier bought the place former- 
ly owned by Henry Rose, and put up a handle 
factory, which he runs by steam and has kept in 
operation for several years. 

To give an idea of the dense wilderness here, 
about 184-0 Welding and Horatio Bell went out 
one afternoon hunting, on the hills south of Ceres. 
Welding returned at night, but said that Hora- 



HISTORY OF CERES. 141 

tio went in another direction for game, and as he 
did not return that night nor the next day, there 
was much anxiety felt for him. Because of his 
having had one knee out of joint it was feared 
that it had given out and he might be some- 
where helpless in the woods. A good many 
turned out to hunt for him, and there was much 
rejoicing when he returned about sundown of 
the second day that he had been out. He had 
been lost, but had the presence of mind to follow 
the first stream that he came to towards its 
mouth. This was Potato creek, and when he 
went until he found a dwelling and could learn 
his whereabouts, it took him the greater part of 
the next day to walk home. 

Mrs. Geo. Lewis, of Vineland, gives some inter- 
esting reminiscences of the younger days of her 
grandmother Mary Gilbert. All the new-comers 
found a home at Francis King's until they could 
build homes of their own. Mary Bee, as her 
name was when she came to the country, must 
have been a young woman, as she married 
Robert Gilbert, of Pniladelphia, only about two 
\^ears afterward. John Bell, Sr. and family must 
have remained at F. Kings the first winter after 
they came. In the spring, maple trees were tap- 
ped and sugar making begun. She went out 
one day toward evening to gather the sap. The 
sugar bush was up King's near the Hornblower 
place. After she had been to work some time, she 
heard wolves howling on the hills east of her, but 
she kept on with her work and shortly she heard 
wolves answering them on the hills west, but 
she still kept on with her work. They evidently 
were approaching the vicinity where she was, 
but she would not leave until the sap was gath- 
ered, but she made very quick time home then. 



142 HISTORY OF CERES. 

At another time she met a panther, or came 
near to it, crouched in the road. She kept her 
eve on it and walked backward until she came 
to her brother nearly a quarter of a mile away. 
Then the panther turned and trotted away into 
the swamp. As it was da\ r time and she could 
keep her eye on him, there was probably little 
danger that it would spring upon her unless she 
turned and ran, and she was so fearless that she 
would hardly have done that. 

Mrs. Gilbert remembered wolves coming up 
and looking into the windows after dark. This 
would not be surprising when we remember 
that sheep could only be kept by putting them 
into covered pens at night. 

From the accounts of the long journey made 
to have the marriage ceremony properly fulfilled, 
it will be readify seen that it was no matter of 
small moment. Divorces were not the order of 
the day then, indeed, have never been among the 
Quakers. When a bashful young man and wo- 
man had schooled themselves into having their 
intention to marry made public before three 
meetings, and then before a large meeting had 
stood up and taken each other by the hand and, 
without the aid of minister or officer of the law, 
repeated the solemn vows which were to bind 
them to each other, there was not much prob- 
ability that in the course of a few months, or 
even a few years, they would be seeking a di- 
vorce in courts of law. Marriage, to be legal 
and proper, had to be performed in an open 
meeting of the Society and could not be done in 
a private house and merely before friends. Ex- 
pulsion from the Society was the penalty. 

The first carriage that passed through Ceres 
was owned by Dr. Almy of Olean and attracted 
as much attention, if not more, than the cars did 



HISTORY OF CERES. 143 

when they came through. Dr. Almy had an in- 
terest in the lumber company that had their 
headquarters at Millport and used to go back- 
ward and forward with his family or members 
of the company. When he sold out John King 
bought this carraige, which must have been 
about 1840. J. King before this had a light 
wagon which was known as a Dearborn wagon. 
Both carriage and wagon would be a curiosity 
now with their high wheels which brought the 
seats up nearh' as high as the horses' backs, and 
other quaint peculiarities about them. The 
large wheels were a necessity, for there were 
often streams to ford and not unfrequently mud 
so deep that the carriage needed to be high. 

In writing about the mail routes an import- 
ant one was omitted — that from Ceres to Friend- 
ship — which must have been opened very early 
in the forties, if not the last of the thirties. 
John Bell had the contract for carrying this for 
a number of years. It was generally carried on 
horseback, and only once a week. This was 
kept up until the completion of the New York & 
Erie railroad, when Charles Rounds began to 
run a dailv stage. 



\-^ 



As early as 1811 Francis King had opened a 
road from Ceres to Nile. This was probably 
done so that the Genesee flats might be reached, 
where they frequently went to obtain flour. 

I have a letter before me dated Marietta, 0., 
November 25, 1813, which was sent to Robert 
Hoops, of Olean, but mailed to Angelica as the 
more direct route. Mr. Hoops sent this letter to 
John King, as it contained an item of business 
for him. The postage on it was twenty-five 
cents. He also sent with it two newspapers of 



Ill HISTORY OF CERES. 

the latest date, which he wished returned after 
they were read, as at that date (1813) they 
probably contained important war news. He 
also sent a message from the President, to the 
return of which he was quite indifferent. 

Alexander Martin died at his daughter's, in 
Mansfield, Pa., in 1890, where he had spent the 
last three years of his life. He was ninety-three 
years of age. 

For many 3'ears, perhaps up to 1840 and later, 
the Indians used to come here more or less every 
spring, to hunt and make baskets. They would 
build wigwams of hemlock bark, which were too 
low for them to stand up in, but which afforded 
them a comparatively comfortable place to 
sleep, and into which they could crawl in time of 
a storm. They built their fires close to the 
opening, and slept with their feet towards it. 
The}- had no beds, but covered the ground in the 
wigwam thick with hemlock boughs, then rolled 
themselves up in their blankets and slept their 
heavy, dreamless sleep. The squaws were ex- 
pected to carry their baggage, which was not 
much — a kettle and the provision on hand — and 
their pappooses, and to do nearly all that was 
done beside the hunting. The squaws must have 
been as industrious as the Indians were lazy. 
The men with the women used often to come 
around with stacks of baskets for sale. These 
were made of splints obtained from the wood of 
the white ash, 1 think, and, though the Indians 
were so dirty, their baskets were spotlessly 
clean. They were made in a great variety of 
styles and for various purposes. They colored 
them with bright colored paints or dyes, the 
designs being cut out of potatoes and stamped 
upon the splints after they were woven into the 



history of cp:res. 14-5 

baskets. Some of the splints were dyed through- 
out. The women also did much bead- work, 
making slippers, purses, reticules and pin-cush- 
ions for sale. 

The dress of the squaws consisted of a bine 
broadcloth skirt, embroidered about the bottom 
with either beads or purcupine quills which had 
been cut in short lengths and dyed in bright 
colors, so that they looked much like beads. 
The upper garment was a loose calico sacque 
fastened down front with many silver brooches. 
They wore neither shawl nor bonnet, but all had 
the blanket, which was thick and heavy, with a 
broad band of blue near either end. They would 
draw the blankets partly over their heads, 
which was a better protection than a fashiona- 
ble bonnet. I remember one who came from 
near Buffalo, who was more civilized than the 
others, and whom they called "Mrs. Dextercla\ T ," 
wore a man's silk hat. Gradually they have 
adopted the costumes of the whites, and now 
it would be difficult to find one still retaining the 
old st\de of dress. In those days squaws lashed 
their babies to a board with strips of bark, and 
carried them on top of the large basket that con- 
tained their goods, which was carried on the 
back with a wide band passing across the fore- 
head. Here the poor little papoose's face was 
exposed to rain and storm, though when the 
weather was severe it was kept under the 
blanket. 

There was an old Indian around late in the 
forties, who traveled about the country many 
years, an outcast from his tribe for some crime 
he had committed. One report I used to hear 
was that he had killed his wife. He seemed per- 
fectly harmless, and I do not remember his ask- 
ing for anything but a drink of buttermilk, at 



146 HISTORY OF CERES. 

almost every house. He only came about in the 
summer time. 

During the summer the berries again brought 
the Indians around. They sold large quantities 
of huckleberries, blackberries and cranberries. 

Oil has not been found in sufficient quantities 
about Ceres to pay for working for it, but gas 
has, and it was first used for lighting and heat- 
ing purposes in the village of Ceres in 1888. At 
first there seemed no end to the supply; now new 
wells have frequently to be put down, and learn- 
ing that in some sections it had almost disap- 
peared, people are more careful, and it is not 
used for lighting the streets as at first ; but 
almost every house is warmed by it, and many 
lighted. It is a wonderful convenience, and com- 
fort, too. If the early settlers could be restored 
to life and see the railroads, telegraphs, tele- 
phones, and the many other inventions that 
they had never imagined, they would be incom- 
prehensible to them ; but to us they have come 
so gradually that we hardly realize their great 
importance, nor the progress the place has 
made. 

The first railroad through this section was 
from Bradford to Wellsville, passing through 
Eldred, Ceres, Genesee, Bolivar and Allentown. 
It was built in the summer of 1881, and was 
abandoned in January, 1893. In the spring of 
1882 another road was built, being a branch of 
the Lackawanna & Pittsburg. Both were nar- 
row gauge. Owing to strife between the two 
companies, the latter road after running parallel 
and side by side with the other, when it came by 
the Van Wormer mill, and some distance this 
side, then turned a little northward, taking oft* 
some from the Call and Gleason lots, and more 



HISTORY OF CERES. 14-7 

from the Danforth place, passed in front of the 
church, crossing the street twice, and sadly mar- 
ring the little village, when it might have been 
placed back of the church and side by side with 
the other. They ran side by side again after 
leaving the village a short distance. It is true 
that the church recovered $400 damages for the 
trees cut down and the injury to the lot, but it 
was small pay, for the annoyance of having the 
road so near is an abiding one. 

Ceres has sent out some citizens who hold 
honored positions in other places, as well as 
having retained some. Of a later generation 
than most of those mentioned, were the two 
sons of Dr. Ledyard, W. W. Bell of Bradford, the 
Stevens boys — Edward, Burt and Irwin; WillH. 
Smith of Auburn, Henry Gillett of Olean, and 
others, who deserve mention ; and we trust that 
there are still others coming, for the days of 
good boys and girls have hardly passed. 

N. A. Hen dry x came here over thirty years 
ago. After a few years he bought what was 
known as the Luther Potter place, and built a 
nice house just east of Leonard White's. His 
family consists of a wife, one daughter and three 
sons. The older three children are married, the 
two sons living near him. Mr. Hendryx is a 
blacksmith. 

Livingston White, son of Leonard White, had 
a nice home just east of N. A. Hendryx, but the 
past spring he bought the Benjamin Perkins 
farm and has recentl\ r removed there. It is a de- 
sirable location and not quite a mile from the 
village. 

"Coon Hollow" is a little hamlet, an annex of 
Ceres, nearly a mile to the west and north of it. 



14-8 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Eugene Coon first began a clearing there nearly 
thirty years ago, and has lived there with his 
family most of the time since. He has a good 
farm and buildings, and since gas was found on his 
land has been increasingly prosperous. Several 
others have bought near him, and there are 
generally a number of families employed by him 
or his near neighbor, Mr. Oleson. Several years 
since, Mr. Gaskill, who was then living at 
Shingle House, bought land and built and 
moved his family there, where the}' lived for a 
few years, but farming not proving as profitable 
as they expected, they sold out and removed to 
New Jersey, much to the regret of all who had 
become acquainted with them. 

The following letter shows that Ceres was a 
part of Centre county, and that the county 
officers of McKean had to report at Bellefonte, 
the capital of Centre county. All the early let- 
ters were directed to "Ceres, Lycoming county," 
until McKean county was formed, and even 
after that for some time : 

Secretary's Office, \ 
Harrisburg, May 18, 1813./ 

Sir : I have to inform you that the Governor 
has appointed Joseph Otto a Justice of the Peace 
for the district including the Township and 
Town of Ceres, in the county of McKean, and 
that his commission has been forwarded to Wil- 
liam Petriken, Esquire, Recorder of Centre coun- 
ty, as it appears that McKean county is still 
under the jurisdiction of Centre county — it was 
under consideration with the Legislature in the 
last session to annex McKean to Lycoming 
county, but it was not done. 

The Legislature of the State of New York has 
"appropriated six thousand dollars for a road 



HISTORY OF CERES. 1 t9 

from the state line at the termination of our 
road, to Hamilton, thence to the outlet of Chau- 
tauqua Lake, as near as convenient to the state 
line." Not understanding rightly the direction 
of this road, you will much oblige me by a feu- 
lines showing the place where the road will 
begin, and end, and its general direction, the 
advantages that will result to our State, and 
particularly the county where you reside, from 
the opening of this road. I do not understand 
whether it is our line, or that of New York, is 
spoken of. Where is the Town of Hamilton 
situate, and what is meant by the outlet ol 
Chautauqua Lake? You will excuse me while I 
ask for the foregoing information, and for an 
answer as soon as it will suit your convenience. 
I am respectfully, 

Your friend, 
Francis King, James Trimble. 

at Ceres. 

The above letter is written upon a sheet of 
paper 8x13 inches. It was folded twice and 
mailed without envelope, being merely fastened 
together with red sealing wax. The postage 
was twenty-five cents, that being the common 
price at that time. Later it was 18 3 /4c., after 
that 12V2C., still later 6V4-C, and from that to 5c. 
3c. and to the present 2c. The directions were 
written upon the middle fold of the paper, as 
follows : 

On public service. 

FRANCIS KING, Esg>, 

at Ceres in McKean County, 
by the way of 

Jersey Shore. 



150 HISTORY OF CERES. 

Early in June, 1898, will be the 100th anniver- 
sary of the arrival of Francis King and family at 
Ceres. He came the year before and cleared a 
few acres, and sowed them to wheat, and built 
a log house for his home, and then returned for 
his family. One or the other of these years 
should be celebrated by his descendants, and the 
descendants of the other early settlers who came 
soon after him ; and as all of those living, 
(though none of them are nearer than grand- 
children ) are all elderly people, and many of 
them will not probably last long, it would seem 
advisable to meet in June, 1897, and celebrate 
the building of the first house and the clearing of 
the first land by white people in Ceres. 







5«Pfei3 




ISmM 



$S 




>JVr.^>J«!:^i?c-5S- : 



mm 



